Song Contest 204 (Results posted!)

[Aristophanes]

I shall definitely be /in

[Aristophanes]

Spoiler: Awesome Contest!

Iraq: Every Time I Die - INRIhab

What a mass of unapologetic energy to start things off with!

This will sound incredibly un-Ari, but I actually quite enjoyed this! I don't know what it was about it, but the energy did what it needed to, the guitar and the strained vocals were just right without being overboard, I could understand most of the lyrics, and it all came together really nicely! I especially like how it feels like this ongoing effort, this battle against the devil, unrelenting as it would be. The parts where the time signature breaks a little, adding the extra notes to the bars, feel like the devil is maybe making progress and breaking through, but is then fought back and contained. This ever present struggle is done really well and it didn't hurt my ears doing it!

Bravo!

Antarctica: Julien-K - Cruel Daze of Summer

Another cool energy at the start of things!
This one is really euro-techno dancy and I like that sound a lot!

The vocals are necessary, but the lyrics seem like they could be anything. Like they thought saying "daze" instead of "days" was neat and the rest could just be filler.
Ooo! That build in the 4 minute mark and the up in sound and energy is cool! I like that!
I think it's maybe a little predictably repetitive but it also changes things up a few times. It just doesn't always feel novel when it does that.

Club Penguin: Pete Seeger - Casey Jones (The Union Scab)

Ahahahaha! Union propaganda at its finest! XD
Casey Jones scabbed in life, worked himself way too hard, died because the company didn't care about safety. Gets to heaven and scabs there (which clearly means heaven can be imperfect but also that scabbing is technically god-approved so I think they missed the mark a bit on that one!) and gets punted to hell by the angel union XD What a story!

Gibraltar: Portishead - Glory Box

Ooo, the singer's voice is really good! I love the timbre and the growl, and it goes so well with the mellow mood and the gritty guitars!
That "move ova" at like a minute thirty is so good! Mmmm!

I could listen to this all day! What a voice, what a feel!

Suriname: The Valley - k.d. lang

Ah, k.d. lang! Wonderful! What a vocalist!

On the surface this song feels really simple and straight forward but it is so well composed. The tension in the cords, the painting of pictures with her words, it's really nicely done!
I really like the wobbly "you will walk" section, adding an off-kilter feel with the extra beat and catching itself, straightening out with "good company" to help stabilize and keep to the path.

Mali: Beabadoobee - Talk

Oh! beebadoobee! I was actually going to submit them sometime soon! I guess I won't be doing that! Haha

I was definitely going to submit something a little more coffeehouse vibed, but this is alright. I like some of the imagery and its implications, going together like gum on a shoe, going out (assumedly to the club) on a tuesday, like everything they do is a little off-kilter and imperfect, but that's what they like about it.

I honestly find the song a little generic, but that's not always bad. It just doesn't pop to me.

Tuvalu: Silent Planet - Antimatter

This is interesting! Another solid energy song with just that little off-kilter feel.

I find a lot of it pretty interesting! The way the sci-fi sounds are panned is cool and lends a lot to the overall vibe. The use of guitars in the...Iunno, dubsteppy beat part? I lack the verbiage for this style of song to a certain degree so I'm sure that's wrong but I also think you understand. Anyway, that's a really cool usage of the instruments to do something I've heard in a way that I haven't.

It has a lot of cool elements and again, like in the first submission, the vocals are not typically my thing but the way they are used here they are understandable, not overdone, and lands themselves well with the song.

I don't know where things will place until the end as I arrange them while I go, but some pieces might be surprises to my scoreboard this time around! It really depends if the contest stays as strong as it started!

Scythia: Four Bitchin' Babes - What Was I Thinking?

This is another one that got me laughing, and I am a sucker for a good, simple, story song especially if it's silly!

I honestly had to pause it at "Art Garfunkle's looking back at me" because that's just too good! XD And the solution is to buy a sombrero! So dramatic! I can't!
And the intentional clunkiness of some of the lines just gets me!

"What were we thinking? This song has no end."
And their manager trying to keep it together! That was too much!

HOLY SHIT IT CAME BACK!!!

Peru: Jockstrap - Greatest Hits

This was alright, the sounds were kinda experimental and fun. A little disjointed though, and I don't think the song works without the music video unfortunately. I always like when a video supports the song, but when it makes the song it's a bit unfortunate. If not for the visual queues, this would drag I think, especially in the middle part when there's just nothing going on for a while.

All this said, with the video it did entertain me!

Mount Celeste: Kensuke Ushio - Ping Pong Phase 2

See, now here we get a ping pong match, and I could definitely picture it without a video required.
The build up in instrumentation is a classic technique and it works really well here to build energy, flow, and tension to this song! Short but effective.

Poland: Dominic Fike - Ant Pile

This ended up feeling really short, I wanted it to go on longer and flesh out the relationships we were introduced to in the song! I guess that's a pretty high praise!

I was going to criticize how trying someone to an ant pile made no sense, and then I realized this is not a Canadian ant hill but like one of those crazy ones from South America or Africa or...well probably Australia! That makes a lot more sense. They accomplished a lot of story in a very short piece, very well done.

Pakistan: Young the Giant - Superposition

I like the sound of this and for some reason the words "space hippie" kept coming to me when I tried to think of a descriptor for this.

I'm gonna get a little deep on the lyrics and I'm not sure if it was intended but I don't see how it couldn't have been.
In his universe she is his dark star. That's tragic. Dark stars don't interact directly with anything we know of yet. They are theoretical based on measurements but can't be proven. And there are an untold number of them, given that dark matter and energy are theorized to make up huge swaths of all things in the universe! So this little unobservable thing which potentially interacts with him but seems indifferent to anything he does and is one of countless similar objects is the subject of his longing and there can never be a proper interaction. "I want you to want me. Why don't we rely on chemistry?" is again so sad! Being a dark star, can their chemistry ever match up? Can they ever interact? She will always have an effect on his universe but they can never properly be together.

This grew on me a lot as I wrote this. Also I'm likely way overthinking it. I do that sometimes.

Bhutan: Lil Mariko - Hi, I'm a Slut

Oh...okay.
This makes me think of like, bad bahbie meets belle delphine.

I like the bloops of like, uploads or comments in the song. They're a cool addition to a song about posting things on the internet.

It's a little crass for my liking, but it does its thing well I think.

Sweden: Arcana - Like Statues in the Garden of Dreaming

Now this sets an epic scene!
I can picture the landscape, old and beaten, foggy and covered in trees. The chanting distant as it comes from a castle or monastery which emerges from the fog.
There's not a lot of movement, it's a quiet and still scene. A little somber. It does a great job painting the image!

eSwatini: James Blunt - The Greatest

James blunt got a lot of shit for how overplayed "You're Beautiful" was back in the day, but that's not his fault. He has a great voice and it's unfortunate that he will always be stuck in the shadow of that song. This is such a motivational song. It's definitely written for his child, but it can apply to all of us. And I think his voice shines really well here! His higher whine, the bit of growl, it's got a power, but not for himself. It's a power for the subject of the song. That's a hard feat to accomplish!

I know, we've all had enough covid pump up save the world songs. But I think this stand on its own legs separated from any of that.

Gabon: Noah Kahan & Post Malone - Dial Drunk

Dang, this is really good too! I saw Post Malone and wasn't sure what to expect. It wasn't this though!

Another tragic song really. They're so stuck on their ex that they get drunk, get in fights, and use them as their emergency call when they get picked up. The sad, misplaced hope that she will call back, that this cry for attention will be met with anything positive, it's so sad!

Also their voices are great in this and I like the style they went for with the song!

Vatican City: Tennessee Ernie Ford - Union Dixie

Tennessee Ernie Ford!? That's a name I haven't heard in a long time!

This is a fun song. The juxtaposition between the marching and dancing is fun and I like the instrumentation. He's got a very straight voice that fits the song well too.

Australia: G Flip - The Worst Person Alive

Aw, this is sad. It's the other side of songs like happier by Olivia Rodrigues and a lot of other songs with a similar idea of "I want you to be happy even if you're not with me anymore" and yes a lot of the time those come with the caveat of wishing for the subject to not be happier than they were with you, but it's still wishing them well because you loved them and still probably do just differently.

This gets at the opposite and is from the subject's viewpoint, which is different! It really hurt her than her ex has such mean thoughts towards her. Where did the love go, how did it turn into this? The simplicity in the track is so this can be highlighted and it is. I think it's a little underdeveloped and heels a bit stagnant, kind of in the same vein as the beebadoobee song. I like where they were going with it though.

Wales: The Murder Capital - Crying

Interesting disorientation in the forward/reverse effects in the beginning. This is continued in the offbeat, off kilter feel in the drums and singing, the guitars add to it. It's a cool effect, though it's not quite my thing.

I've mentioned that a couple of songs here felt short or underdeveloped, like they could have given me more. This one lost my attention despite its best efforts with all the off-kilterness of it and could have been shorter.

Chile: Angra - Carry On

Oh okay, this could be fun. It's got a lot of energy and some good instrumentation to start with!

I like the vocals, they're a lot lighter in feel then a lot of the songs that fit in this general genre from what I know if it at least. I expected a lot more indistinguishable growl rather than soaring vocals as we got here! And I really like the varied instrumentation! I even like the guitar break! I'm not usually big on electric guitar, rocky songs, etc. But of course there are exceptions. This one checks a whole lot of those boxes!

It's a very epic feeling piece, driving forward and carrying on, I could see is fitting into a lot of settings and working really well. Very fun piece!

Man, this is a really difficult contest to rank! I really enjoyed the majority of it and while I usually get to the point around midway in the rankings where I've stopped enjoying the songs for the most part, this contest was full pretty much end to end with pieces I actually liked and appreciated! Especially for a contest of this size, I'm really surprised! Thanks to all who submitted

[Aristophanes]

Don't take this the wrong way but there were too many meme songs

I may or may not have rated it higher because of this