Song Contest 91 (Results posted!)

[Parama]

Mozambique – The singer’s voice is almost really good, but the tone is just so slightly irritating. I hope this isn’t 4 minutes of him singing over a repeating guitar line though, seriously now. Okay the song does kick in halfway through at least. I definitely prefer the second half, but I still am not a fan of his voice.

Turkey – There’s a nice bright sound and energy to this that I like about it, though beyond that I can’t say it does much for me. The vocalists contrast nicely, at the very least. Though I’m not a fan of the rougher-voiced dude.

Gabon – Yup, this is definitely a mashup of two completely different styles. Three maybe I don’t think the Jackson 5 are funk normally so yeah sure. Okay. Bye.

Wales – Nice atmosphere with the instrumentation and a nice voice as well. Really I have no problems with this at all, it gets a lot more full in the second half and comes to a satisfying climax.

Iceland – I didn’t love this on first listen but it grew on my pretty quickly… there’s just so much about this song to like. The softer verses, the explosive chorus with a great violin line, the chilling middle section with a great dissonant build, a cathartic final chorus. Really fantastic piece of music.

Cote d’Ivoire – This kind of track just comes off as really unpleasantly bitter when the vocalist doesn’t have nearly enough swagger to pull off the sassy attitude she’s going for. Musically it’s rather generic too, the only notable thing is the tempo change to a more upbeat but equally generic outro.

South Korea – Oh god the audio quality. I see that this is probably a live recording but… you gotta have some standards, man. Other than that. I feel like I’ve heard this before, even though I’m certain I haven’t. That just means to me that it’s fairly unremarkable indie rock rendered practically unlistenable by the audio quality. Also wow for a sub-3 minutes song this sure is repetitive.

Netherlands – I have heard a song or two from these guys I liked. This is not one of those songs, apparently. Wow this is a total mess of a song. The vocal lines just completely clash with the noisy instrumentation that’s already kind of a mess by itself. But seriously the vocals and instrumentation feel like they exist in separate spaces, for both the verse and chorus.



i'm already super not-hyped for this contest, though i know there are two other good songs at least since i've heard them both before

[Quilford]

Parama you derp it's called production

[Parama]

i've never been sure what the difference is

production on non-synthesized music tends to refer to the mixing and sound quality though as far as i've ever seen

[Quilford]

'Sound quality' carries strong implications of it not being an actual stylistic decision the artist made. Like, 'oh, you're watching this video at 144p, the sound quality is terrible'. As opposed to eg, 'the production on this this track makes it sound really blown out, I cannot comprehend why anyone would want this, there is no god'

[Song Contest]

i always resize
but we could use [thumb=400] over [img] to bypass resizing entirely

Thanks for the tip!

[Quilford]

Turkey

B+

USA

B−

Cote d'Ivoire

B−

Netherlands

B−

Chad

B

Greece

B

Botswana

B+

Italy

B−

Mozambique

B

Wales

B

Portugal

F

Philippines

B+

[Plotinus]

st. lucia's video wasn't available but i found another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVBubpQbkg8

[xRECKONERx]

GIF RATINGS

Namibia


Spain


Hungary


Burkina Faso


Iceland


Republic of Kugelmugel


Gabon


Central African Republic


Fiji


St Lucia


Turkey


USA


Cote d'Ivoire


Netherlands


Chad


Greece


Botswana


Mozambique


South Korea


Wales


Portugal


Phillipines

[Davsto]

just curious

are the gifs relevant to how you feel about the song

or are they just random gifs

[Bins]

I'm going to take that as a "good" but I could be completely wrong.

[Cephrir]

I guess people also hate it when I submit something totally out of my wheelhouse! I'm professionally unpopular.

[Natirasha]

Namibia(Chon)--I was hyped then no lyrics then I got into it and alright.
Spain(Neon Indian)--This indie darling continues to disappoint.
Hungary(Death in June)--I have a soft spot for this sort of stuff.
Burkina Faso(Soap&Skin)--This had the darkness and aallmost had the intensity.
Iceland(Bent Knee)--This was cool.
Republic of Kugelmugel(A$AP Rocky)--k
Gabon(The Piano Guys)--I like covers like this.
Central African Republic(Madness)--Still needed a little push.
Fiji(Birdy)--It's fine enough.
St Lucia(Ripe)--A little long but I dig.
Turkey(July Talk)--Well, I had to listen to it twice.
USA(Sunrise Skater Kids)--It is here that we expose the truth that deep down, I am actually just a 13 year old scene girl.
Cote d'Ivoire(Killola)--I submitted this one because...I'm not really sure. this is the song I was originally planning to submit.
Netherlands(Panic! At the Disco)--I guess this proves I'm actually a 17 year old scene girl instead, because I'm so over this.
Chad(Slaves)--This was pretty run of the mill.
Greece(Neko Case)--This had something to it.
Botswana(Julia Holter)--I actually like the regalness in the background.
Italy(Annabel Jones)--Also okay.
Mozambique(Mountains for Clouds)--groan intensifies
South Korea(Ladybrugs)--This was raw but rly good
Wales(Little May)--it exists
Portugal(Fractal)--I've heard some of Fractal's stuff and liked it, but this one I couldn't get into.
Phillipines(Hyukoh)--Something cool to end on.

[xRECKONERx]

just curious

are the gifs relevant to how you feel about the song

or are they just random gifs

they're semi relevant

[xRECKONERx]

I'm going to take that as a "good" but I could be completely wrong.

which country were you

[Parama]

not quite sure what "spinning head from the we can't stop video" is supposed to mean so i'm going to assume bad

[TheWayItEnds]

I guess people also hate it when I submit something totally out of my wheelhouse! I'm professionally unpopular.

your song was like the only one i liked from this contest actually.

[Parama]

St. Lucia – I dig this and it’s enjoyable enough, fun groove, horns are nice, vocals are solid. But I can’t say it stands out in any way and I suspect I’m going to completely forget about it after this contest is over.

Italy – Ehh, not a huge fan of the instrumentation but it’s not that bad either, it’s just kind of meh. I do like her voice at least, though at moments she’s not emoting very well. Not too bothered by this though and it’s short enough that it doesn’t get old, so.

Central African Republic – Hmm. I sort of feel like the constant style shifts of this song are to cover up the fact that none of the different moods are really that great or unique on their own. Far from bad, sure, and honestly I do like this song a fair bit for how it switches between different styles, but if you took any one of those styles and made it its own song, I have to imagine it wouldn’t be a particularly special song.

USA – Apparently this is a pop-punk mashup. It’s literally just them stealing riffs from other songs and replacing the lyrics with their own. Pop-punk isn’t exactly a style I like to begin with and I do recognize a decent number of these songs I guess but there’s not really anything interesting being done with the songs, it’s just “songs that exist played back to back”.

Portugal – I’m glad the video title told me this was dubstep so I could go into it with exceedingly low expectations. I don’t even listen to dubstep and this still strikes me as somehow being really generic. Why is this 6 minutes long, too? Ugh.

Republic of Kugelmugel – I figured this was going to be a rap song since I recognize the artist’s name but no it’s a slow, mostly-sung track. It’s kind of interesting in a way really, I dig this kind of spaced-out vibe. He’s… not a very good singer though, but I think it works? Dunno, I don’t love this on first listen but I definitely like it more than I expected to. The actual rapping bits are preeeeetty terrible though, so.

Greece – This is the kind of song I just have nothing to say about. The instrumentation is fine, but unmemorable. The guitar and drums do some cool stuff. The vocals are generic indie rock-flavored. They’re fine but not special. This song exists.

Fiji – The only thing I know about Birdy is that they covered the song I entered in the previous contest, and that I vastly preferred the original. This is… really generic indie rock, though, I listened to this once and can’t remember a thing about it. Her voice is decent and there’s some nice instrumentation, but… bleh.



this set started off decent but didn't stay that way

[Cephrir]

I almost entered a different song just because that one said electro instead of dubstep even though I didn't think they were really that different

[TheWayItEnds]

i probably wouldnt have called the track you entered dubstep.

On a similar note Pendulum might be getting back together and im kinda excited for that.

[Parama]

Hungary – I dunno, the beginning made me wish this took a different direction than it did. Somber vocals with a very basic melody over repetitive cards and repetitive lyrics doesn’t make for a particularly engaging track on its own, but it’s okay. It’s got good atmosphere, even if it’s rather one-note.

Burkina Faso – Okay, seriously, what the hell is this? Well, for one, intriguing. I don’t really know what to say about this really. I’ll definitely need to relisten before I really make up my mind on this but it’s interesting and a pretty enjoyable listen, I think?

Botswana – Well here’s one of the songs I’ve heard before, though I don’t own this album yet so I haven’t heard the track that much. Lucette Stranded on the Island and Vasquez were the two tracks I remember liking the most but this one’s nice too, a nice bright atmosphere and some eclectic but not overly eclectic instrumentation, and she has a nice voice.

Namibia – I mean I’ve heard this song like a dozen times or so recently because I’ve been spinning this album so I’m biased and all, but. I like this track, I like this band. They do the one thing that makes technical proggy stuff like this work – emote. That’s the well-guarded secret that so many bands somehow miss. Still, I’m gonna avoid giving this too high of points if I can help it.

Spain – This starts kind of cool and it has a decent groove to it when it kicks in, but I don’t really like the synth tones or that vocals. It’s a very neo-80’s kind of vibe, and I didn’t really like much at all of what we got from the olde-80’s, so. Eventually starts to drag, too, when I’m already kind of bored to begin with and it just keeps going…

Chad – The artist image makes me think this is going to be some post-hardcore or metalcore thing. Aaaaand it’s the former. I think his voice is a little too high-pitched for my tastes, but he’s not awful. Other than that, it’s not particularly remarkable, but it’s solid, and a solid post-hardcore track is generally going to rate higher than a solid indie-rock or synthpop song because I’m biased and all.

Philippines – I’m going to be sad if this sucks since that album cover is pretty cool. Apparently this is Korean. It’s kind of impressive how much it sounds like a standard indie rock song with a standard indie rock vocalist. I’ll admit the jazzy guitar line is pretty catchy though. Beyond that though… it’s alright, but not really that great, just okay.


i wouldn't be surprised if half of the songs i give points to come from this set, even aside from the two i already knew it was just more enjoyable overall

[Song Contest]

Reminder that the voting deadline is tomorrow!

[Davsto]

oh fuck i forgot about this

i already spent today marathoning new music though

oh wellll

[Parama]

i guess i should vote today

[SnowStorm]

Gotta vote too. Already listened to the songs but haven't ranked them yet. I'll have to give them a second listen later today.

[Tammy]

I need to listen to these