Spoiler:
Spoiler: ok, so what do i do exactly
you should aim to come up with 8 songs that each support a category described below. i tend to like songs that address the category in an artsy, unexpected, or funny way, and i also often just find ways to give something a high grade that you wouldn't expect (especially if i like the song, which can threaten to happen at any time). as well, i am dropping your lowest score, so don't feel bad if you don't have 8 killer ideas.
i will try to avoid finding out who submitted each song until shortly before each reveal, so i prefer that everybody sends me their songs via youtube link (i live in the US and almost never have region-restriction problems) through a PM on mafiascum (other places sometimes show a preview of the videos when you send the message). if a song doesn't exist on youtube, that's not a huge deal and you should feel free to link it somewhere else. avoid using the "youtu.be" links if possible. you can submit at any time until i have revealed the second category, and also change your submissions until then.
if you'd like to avoid submitting music i've heard before, my rateyourmusic page has a "search schadd's music for..." box in the middle, which will pull up substantially everything i've listened to while paying attention. you don't need to adhere to this religiously especially since i like to re-listen to songs with this new context, but you should avoid stuff from my very favorite albums as well as most of the material from those artists (i deduct points for particularly familiar music).
MUSHSHAGANA CLAUSE: you can include any number of supplemental comments about the songs in your submission, but preferably you would do those separately in a spoiler= box to make it easier for me to anonymize things
i will try to avoid finding out who submitted each song until shortly before each reveal, so i prefer that everybody sends me their songs via youtube link (i live in the US and almost never have region-restriction problems) through a PM on mafiascum (other places sometimes show a preview of the videos when you send the message). if a song doesn't exist on youtube, that's not a huge deal and you should feel free to link it somewhere else. avoid using the "youtu.be" links if possible. you can submit at any time until i have revealed the second category, and also change your submissions until then.
Spoiler: example of what a submission would look like:
cat 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWEZ0upMXu4
cat 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPWyePlywTI
cat 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU7iz9RYV0
cat 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8UN_6AUgCw
cat 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpoOCv0MeKs
cat 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssql3nT4zVE
cat 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=141y8ikOsyE
cat 8, section 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrb9ydJY6M, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOyDpzmi2f8
cat 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPWyePlywTI
cat 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU7iz9RYV0
cat 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8UN_6AUgCw
cat 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpoOCv0MeKs
cat 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssql3nT4zVE
cat 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=141y8ikOsyE
cat 8, section 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrb9ydJY6M, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOyDpzmi2f8
if you'd like to avoid submitting music i've heard before, my rateyourmusic page has a "search schadd's music for..." box in the middle, which will pull up substantially everything i've listened to while paying attention. you don't need to adhere to this religiously especially since i like to re-listen to songs with this new context, but you should avoid stuff from my very favorite albums as well as most of the material from those artists (i deduct points for particularly familiar music).
MUSHSHAGANA CLAUSE: you can include any number of supplemental comments about the songs in your submission, but preferably you would do those separately in a spoiler= box to make it easier for me to anonymize things
categories |
Spoiler: cat 1: songs i like
well, that's the name of the game. for this category, just send me a song that you think i'll like. the catfit points will just reflect my enjoyment.
here is the first walrus i did, where you can peruse the winning songs.
some songs i've liked recently:
deftones - be quiet and drive (far away)
cocteau twins - ups
toots & the maytals - pressure drop
horsegirl - world of pots and pans
mass of the fermenting dregs - ベアーズ (musically this live version is like worse than the album version. but youtube just keeps recommending it to me and don't i just keep clicking it)
here is the first walrus i did, where you can peruse the winning songs.
some songs i've liked recently:
deftones - be quiet and drive (far away)
cocteau twins - ups
toots & the maytals - pressure drop
horsegirl - world of pots and pans
mass of the fermenting dregs - ベアーズ (musically this live version is like worse than the album version. but youtube just keeps recommending it to me and don't i just keep clicking it)
Spoiler: cat 2: songs that make me scared to listen to them a second time
it's fun to have cat 2 be like an opposite to cat 1. in the first walrus i think i executed that vaguely and badly. hopefully the idea here is simple enough and also gives you different ways to approach it.
most of the time it's easy enough to click on a song and start listening to it, but plenty of things hit you with this flash of memory that makes you wince and think "i gotta emotionally prepare to listen to this again". these moments are increasingly rare for me after the several thousandth album i've listened to but, go on and have a go.
adrianne lenker - blue and red horses: man, this song. i think there's some cocktail where it's creepy and foreboding, and also strikes at the feeling of childhood vulnerability in a way that's hard to grok. there was this one time a few years ago i randomly listened to it in the car and i was like "i think i won't pick this back up ever again." nowadays i have the ability to say "this song is like skinamarink"
model/actriz - slate: just from an album that recently made me scared of the feral instinct it unearthed. the sonic intensity and gushing sexuousness build a powerful two-stroke engine here.
iris dement - our town: very thorough walloping of a song. i think it speaks for itself. rarely find myself able to sit through this one.
most of the time it's easy enough to click on a song and start listening to it, but plenty of things hit you with this flash of memory that makes you wince and think "i gotta emotionally prepare to listen to this again". these moments are increasingly rare for me after the several thousandth album i've listened to but, go on and have a go.
adrianne lenker - blue and red horses: man, this song. i think there's some cocktail where it's creepy and foreboding, and also strikes at the feeling of childhood vulnerability in a way that's hard to grok. there was this one time a few years ago i randomly listened to it in the car and i was like "i think i won't pick this back up ever again." nowadays i have the ability to say "this song is like skinamarink"
model/actriz - slate: just from an album that recently made me scared of the feral instinct it unearthed. the sonic intensity and gushing sexuousness build a powerful two-stroke engine here.
iris dement - our town: very thorough walloping of a song. i think it speaks for itself. rarely find myself able to sit through this one.
Spoiler: cat 3: novel musicianship
here, i am looking for music that
emahoy tsegue-maryam guebrou - the homeless wanderer: she's somebody that had an eclectic piano education and just uses some unique and remarkable approach to rhythm that feels less like a classical structure and more like the act of waiting for a meandering thought to resolve.
life without buildings - the leanover
- demonstrates some kind of impressive technical or creative ability
- seems to be doing something different from music you and i usually hear
emahoy tsegue-maryam guebrou - the homeless wanderer: she's somebody that had an eclectic piano education and just uses some unique and remarkable approach to rhythm that feels less like a classical structure and more like the act of waiting for a meandering thought to resolve.
life without buildings - the leanover
(chickadee's past cat 1 winner)
: the vocal in this song is what they call "really something else"Spoiler: cat 4: multiemotional
i'd like something that produces multiple different emotions in the listener, especially simultaneously or in the creation of a cohesive whole.
.
elizabeth cotten - freight train
isaiah rashad - 4r da squaw
big thief - black diamonds
.
elizabeth cotten - freight train
isaiah rashad - 4r da squaw
big thief - black diamonds
Spoiler: cat 5: synchronized swimming
my brother's girlfriend coaches synchronized swimming at the local high school & we went to see a show. shortly beforehand, i was like "what kind of song do you use for synchronized swimming?" and started excitedly imagining a bunch of different ideas. after the show i was charmed by the little bits of expression and flair you can use to act out a certain song, as well as the high school-ness of it i guess.
send me a song that i'd want to see a synchronized swimming routine for, or at least see them try. it helps to have something that excites one's visual imagination.
.
autechre - cfern
alice in chains - rotten apple
billy woods & kenny seagal - red dust "it's how she arch her back when she-"
the free design - kites are fun
el chombo - chacarron
send me a song that i'd want to see a synchronized swimming routine for, or at least see them try. it helps to have something that excites one's visual imagination.
.
autechre - cfern
alice in chains - rotten apple
billy woods & kenny seagal - red dust "it's how she arch her back when she-"
the free design - kites are fun
el chombo - chacarron
Spoiler: cat 6: forgiveness
forgiveness is complicated and i think lends itself to music well. send me something that engages with the idea of forgiveness, or the lack thereof.
i'll give 3 examples which aren't great
liz phair - divorce song
kendrick lamar - mother i sober: i kinda took issue with what i might vaguely call the "methodology" of this song but there's a lot of ways it thought-provokingly touches on the largeness of the problem of intergenerational trauma
boards of canada - over the horizon radar: mostly i just felt compelled to try putting in an instrumental song & boards of canada songs feel like they're about everything
i'll give 3 examples which aren't great
liz phair - divorce song
kendrick lamar - mother i sober: i kinda took issue with what i might vaguely call the "methodology" of this song but there's a lot of ways it thought-provokingly touches on the largeness of the problem of intergenerational trauma
boards of canada - over the horizon radar: mostly i just felt compelled to try putting in an instrumental song & boards of canada songs feel like they're about everything
Spoiler: cat 7: drums
it turns out that drumming is like maybe my favorite thing in music generally. send me a song where the drums (or generally, percussion) are good.
i had an identical category in my first walrus. in writing out the category proposal i voiced a mild distaste for drum machines, which i now think i don't care about as much as i dislike stuff where the drumming wasn't a primary consideration when building the song.
for my examples i'll name several songs which Happen to be some of my very favorite songs from 2022:
immanuel wilkins + elena pinderhughes + also other people - lighthouse
converge - they stretch for miles (redux)
pillow queens - my body moves
i had an identical category in my first walrus. in writing out the category proposal i voiced a mild distaste for drum machines, which i now think i don't care about as much as i dislike stuff where the drumming wasn't a primary consideration when building the song.
for my examples i'll name several songs which Happen to be some of my very favorite songs from 2022:
immanuel wilkins + elena pinderhughes + also other people - lighthouse
converge - they stretch for miles (redux)
pillow queens - my body moves
Spoiler: cat 8: grab bag
here's three funny little ideas for a category, choose one that you can submit to. when you are sending me the message, you should specify "cat 8, section 1 [or 2 or 3]: https://youtube.fart/song" (or two links for section 3) but
don't provide any extra info
. if somebody submits to a section that nobody else does, they will receive 3.9 points.
Spoiler: scoring, medals and invisible cats
i give each song a rating out of 5, which becomes up to 7 points (i double the amount by which the rating exceeds 3). i give between 0 and 3 points based on its aptitude for the category. i will give 1 point for a song i don't know, and 1.2 for something particularly unfamiliar; there is a sliding scale downward if i've heard the song or artist before (possibly down to negative points). i try to guess who submitted each song and deduct 0.1 points when i am correct. the four top scorers in each category will receive 2/1.5/1.2/0.9 bonus points.
EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE IS BASICALLY FOR FUNZIES (but it does count for points)
