Song Contest 209 (Results are up!)

[Aristophanes]

Reminder to myself to do this

[Aristophanes]

Submitted! Better late than never right?

[Aristophanes]

Submitted! Better late than never right?

They changed the timing rules, you weren’t even late!

Well that sure worked out in my favour then! =D

[Aristophanes]

Okay, so 2 big things about this contest.

First off, this is one of the overall highest quality contests I've been a part of! Every song was just really well put together, had something unique and intriguing to it, and made me want to relisten. I'm really impressed!

Secondly, this is definitely a contest to ensure you have your headphones in for. Many of the songs rely on stereo sound and panning, and it would be a shame to miss out on that!

Spoiler:

Australia: Scott Walker - The Old Man's Back Again

Ooo, loving that bass line in the left ear! And a really nice, rounded, clear voice. The strings come in with some really nice accents without overdoing anything. The swelling into the choral voice accompaniment is really good too!

What a cool and interesting portrayal of the personified Death! It's tragic in a lot of ways and really well done!

Barbados: Megan Thee Stallion ft. Spiritbox - Cobra (Rock Remix)

This is...interesting!
It's a mix of things I'm not really a fan of - the current rap scene, harder/rockier songs, some screaming of lines - but it all comes together pretty nicely into a good balance and circles a decent hook. It doesn't overdo any one of these elements, but lets them work together to actually deliver some message, some depth, that I usually find lacking when I listen to songs which focus on these elements. I actually really enjoyed it, despite my expectations!

Sudan: Justin Greenhouse - Escaping the City

This is a really good, um, altrock/emo(?) song. (sorry, I've been out of this kind of scene for far too long apparently.) I like the build, I like the vocalizations, the guitar is nice despite being just a tinge harder than I'd usually lean towards, it all fits together to make a very nice song!

You can hear at the start when he says he's been locked up alone for too long that he's like, in a room echoing back at him. It's an effective picture of someone trying to escape their bonds. The way he says and melds the "grabbing and clawing and bearing their teeth" line is really neat, you can almost feel the lines fighting against being pulled down by this attack. It's really neat!

Scythia: The Dread Crew of Oddwood - Skeletons

Hahaha okay, this is fun! XD

I love the voice, I love the out of tune, like, parlour piano and the bar performance feel of this. It's fun, it tells a bunch of small anecdotal tales, the chorus is fun and catchy. The whole thing is silly yet serious, fun yet ominous. It's gotta be from some movie or musical I'm sure. If not, it should be!

Chile: Zapla - Is It Love?

This is a nice mellow piece. He's a little harder to understand, but I like what affectations he does to his voice. His lilting voice is nice, it almost sways. I also like that he went a bit long with the instrumental breaks in this piece. It adds to that sway, to some of the uncertainty and the ungrounded easiness. It's a lot like watching a leaf falling on a relatively undisturbed day.

Antarctica: Rabbit Junk - What Doesn't Kill You Will Make You a Killer

"Like Clockwork I..." is a really cool sound, and it almost tick-tocks the way he does it, which is tough with that many words to fit in. It is well contrasted with the ladies whines, and with the more flowing bit in the middle just before the instrumental and switch in styles, around that 2 minute mark - I guess probably that's when the intro leads way to the song?

This is definitely not my thing, but it's pretty cool and I like the stuff they did here.

Italy: Marta Del Grandi - Snapdragon

Great intriguing start! I love the layering, and the vocals add such a cool popping around effect to it! Love the drum start to it, gives it that drive it needs.

Pleading with a flower to keep silent about a misdeed, possibly a murder/burying of a body? That's kinda the feel I get. The descent into chaos of this song is really cool and it really builds into it well! It's almost Dionysian. Very cool!

Zanarkand: Guerilla Toss - Retreat

Well this is a disorienting feel. Kinda like falling down Alice's rabbit hole. Or maybe something more akin to the Labyrinth. I can definitely picture the puppets dancing around an unconscious body in the instrumental break. Cool use of polyrhythms for the disorientation effect actually!

Mount Celeste: Hyper Potions - Snow Day

Cool 8-bit feeling happy song!

Wanna play in the snow? Why of course! It's sunny and warm and not windy, what an ideal day to build a snowman with a friend! We have no cares in the world!

New Zealand: Morningsiders - Empress

Nice clear piano, with a cool 5/8-6/8 off-balance dance to it, like rolling down a hill in a bucket!
It's got a really Guy-falls-for-Girl-dancing-ina-sundress-all-carefree-like-and-realizes-he's-not-happy-with-his-current-relationship-so-now-he-lusts-towards-her vibe to it.

I wonder if her name was Dawn

Mali: Divine Fits - For Your Heart

I hope this video is good for this one, the other link was unavailable unfortunately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTcICswdVjs

Ooo okay, creepy castly vibes to start. A little Monster Mash/Thriller-y, so not like the scary castly type. More the hip misunderstood vampire castly type.
"up all night, I walk the ceiling" :thonk: was I right? XD

It's a cool beat, this has so many layers that create such an odd feel. It's off-kilter, emotional, colourful yet muted. Misunderstood. I keep coming back to that.

"Tell me why you keep me searching in the dark for your heart" basically captures everything I felt about this song. Very cool!

eSwatini: Meute - Loss of Hope

I really love the energy these guys bring! The way they build. How they use marching band instruments to make this club sound and feel. The way they interact and how that makes the music feel.

It's honestly such a groove, such a bop, I felt it was well worth sharing here!

Portugal: Kiltro - What Gives

Great way to send off the contest! Brings the whole energy back down and to a close. Very eerie in the sounds they put into the right ear.

Really cool sound and feel to the song! I with I could understand him more clearly, I was glad the words were in the video description. The song itself definitely felt like it was floating, maybe slowly sinking. Pretty neat!

Honestly, this was one of that hardest contest I've had to score!