Song Contest 150 (Results posted!)

[Scigatt]

You know Lewis Black bit where he explains how aneurysms work? That's the best way I can explain this track.

For my own sake, one way or another, this is gonna be posted in this thread. If for some reason you want this to be an actual entry, please say so.

[Scigatt]

You know Lewis Black bit where he explains how aneurysms work? That's the best way I can explain this track.

For my own sake, one way or another, this is gonna be posted in this thread. If for some reason you want this to be an actual entry, please say so.

This either sounds like my newest "worst thing entered" or a lock for at least eight points.

It's more 'WTF' than bad, though that might just be brain damage talking.

At last the pressure to not compete for Vi's 12. But fuck it, I'm calling my shot again.

(though really I should pander to Xtoxm instead)

This track would be a decent pander to Xtoxm, except perhaps for the fact it's not metal at all.

[Scigatt]

This track would be a decent pander to Xtoxm, except perhaps for the fact it's not metal at all.

i can also be pandered to with distorted vocals

Sorry, none of that here either.

[Scigatt]

After reviewing my facilities, I think I can handle this track for a few contests. Look for it in SC 151.

Meanwhile, I'm entering something that I've had on heavy repeat the last little while. The lyrics are wonderfully complicated and even w/o understanding the lyrics, the song bops.

[Scigatt]

You better hope someone doesn't submit scissors 2.

[Scigatt]

While we're talking about rules, are you ever gonna enforce that 400x400 pic condition?

[Scigatt]

While we're talking about rules, are you ever gonna enforce that 400x400 pic condition?

eh?

[Scigatt]

It's basically a hold over from when the images had the results written over them, so they all had to be the same size.

I remember back in the day those were really spiffy. There are advantages to the current method, such as easier data scraping and almost no chance of losing ballots over time. Probably the best troll I ever pulled in the Song Contest loses a bit of its punch now that my ballot image is gone.

[Scigatt]

Spoiler: This is a beta test of the Cryptic Rating System Ver. 3.0

Greece - C/B-
USA - B/C+
Armenia - B/C-
Yemen - C/B
Seychelles - B

Guyana - B/C+
Sudan - C
Belarus - A/S
South Korea - B/C
Central African Republic - B/C-

New Zealand - C+
Spain - C/B+
Russia - C/B+
Djibouti - C/B-
Denmark - C/B

Cote d'Ivoire - B/C
Egypt - B/C
Liechtenstein - B/C
Argentina - B-
Asgardia - C/B+

Iceland - B-
Canada - B/C
Singapore - C/B+
Thailand - B/C-
Germany - C/B

[Scigatt]

Spoiler: Actual words about the entries, possibly even coherent thoughts.

Greece(Rotersand - Exterminate Annihilate Destroy) - An interesting aesthetic here, and as far as I know it's well done, it's just not my thing. Also, it ended differently than I expected.

USA(The Ghost Inside - Aftermath) - I can't really speak to the emotional aspects of this song. Even though they are obviously an important part of it, they don't really land with me, though the problem is likely on my end. The song seems to be reasonably well-executed otherwise, with enough 'little things' and changes thrown in to break up the 'metal' parts.

Armenia(Cat Power - I Found a Reason) - Not much here, but its nice to listen to, and it's a good length for that too. (For the sake of its points, it is lucky I'm going from the bottom up.)

Yemen(Colour Revolt - Ageless Everytime) - Another song from this band is on my Super Playlist¹, so I had high hopes. As it is, I found this song just average.

Seychelles(KASHIWA DAISUKE - METEOR) - The combination of piano, strings, and drum kit(+some sort of bass) is odd in a non-jazz context, but this works.


Guyana(IU - You and I) - This is fun to listen to, except for sound quality issues. Some of instruments and vocals sound pretty harsh.

Sudan(12RODS - Red) - There are interesting instrumental and vocal parts here and there, and those would probably work for me in other songs or assembled in a different way, but I'm not a fan the way they are put together here.

Belarus(Astronautalis - The Wondersmith and His Sons) - I've been waiting to submit this song since SC 147, and I couldn't wait any longer. Something about the beat, the vocals, and the layers of instruments just fucking bops. Not to mention the fact that these are probably the second-best lyrics I've ever submitted.² I kinda don't want to move on from here.

South Korea(Block B - Nillili Mambo) - The intro was a little weird, but once the beat kicks in it all works out. It feels like stereotypical k-pop/rap, however oxymoronic/wrong that is or isn't(I have no clue on k-pop trends). It is well-made and fun to listen to, though. The outro is weird too, but also funny.

Central African Republic(The Hoosiers - A Sadness Runs Through Him) - It's well done for what it is, it's just a bit boring.


New Zealand(AURORA - Winter Bird) - Same as the last song, with the addition of finding the vocals a little annoying and going on for too long.

Spain(Grails - Take Refuge) - Interesting sound effects in the intro. Chill with nice variation on the instruments to keep interest. The combination of the the organ and whatever-that-is at ~4:00 is odd but ok. Not a fan of the fadeout, though. I would have preferred it just stopped at ~6:45-7:20, with no fadeout.

Russia(Любэ (Lyube) - Не валяй дурака, Америка! (Ne Valyay Duraka, Amerika!)) - This feels like a typical 'novelty' entry. It's just okay.

Djibouti(Slaughter To Prevail - Demolisher) - There are some similarities between this and USA. I'm also clueless on metal genres, so I have no idea how close they really are. The main relevant difference to me is they pretty much do the same thing all the way through here. In this case, I think the approach in USA sounds better.

Denmark(Picturesque - Unannounced) - Even though it's clearly doing something different, I feel the same way about this as Central African Republic, but with sound quality issues. Everything sounds a bit muffled and pushed together.


Cote d'Ivoire(Lyre le Temps - Rob the Banker) - This is an interesting combination that works well and sounds fun, but there are also sound quality issues. It sounds harsh, thin, and tinny. It's still a nice song otherwise, but it could have been better.

Egypt(Samm Henshaw - Broke) - I don't have much to say here, but this is nice and fun to listen to.

Liechtenstein(Blackway - What's Up Danger) - This is more compositionally interesting than Egypt, but not as consistently nice to listen to. Those about cancel out.

Argentina(Ajay Gogavale & Atul Gogavale - Yaad Lagla (I've Gone Insane)) - This a really nice composure of classical instrumentation with Indian flair. The flourish at ~3:50 is quite cheesy, but that's a minor nitpick compared to how good the rest of this is.

Asgardia(Gloryhammer - The Siege of Dunkeld) - This is enjoyable enough, but this song is really defined by its genre, which I have no particular like(or hate) towards.


Iceland(The Hirsch Effekt - Agitation) - This is as well composed as Argentina, but with completely different ingredients, and the composition adapted to match, so they sound nothing alike. I feel similarly about the two tracks though. This one might go on a bit too long, but I don't know what I would cut.

Canada(Cast of Alice by Heart - Another Room in Your Head) - There's not much notable in this other than the vocals. The vocals are quite good, however, which helps make up for that.

Singapore(Inori Minase (水瀬いのり） - Kokorosomali (ココロソマリ)) - There was a slight bit of synth+piano at the very beginning that reminded me of hip-hop, but otherwise this seems typical of what j-pop I've listened to, and pleasant enough to take in. I do wonder what j-pop with hip-hop instrumentals would be like.

Thailand(Postmodern Jukebox - Bad Romance (ft. Ariana Savalas & Sarah Reich)) - I'm not too familiar with most pop music past about 2005, but I am familiar with this song from when we analysed it in English class. When I first saw this in the entries I was afraid they'd butcher it, but for the most part they did well to adapt it. The one thing that I don't like here is the tap-dancing. Not only do I feel it is superfluous, but I feel they did real harm to the structure of their cover just to show off some tap-dancing chops.

Germany(VNV Nation - When Is The Future?) - This isn't really my thing, but its okay enough to listen to. Also, is it just me, or are the vocals a bit quiet in the mix?

¹

Blood In Your Mouth

²

The best lyrics go to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Also, if you can decipher my cryptic ratings, I think I was a bit generous on the earlier part of that list, and a bit harsh on the later part.

[Scigatt]

Spoiler: Stuff

(1) BELARUS -- Astronautalis {The Wondersmith and His Sons}

-- There's a reason you're told in music composition not to write in octaves - they're hard to keep in tune, and I can tell. I appreciate its pulse and commitment to going at its own cadence. I would probably like this better if the lyrics were someplace easily accessible. The vocalist needs to eat another box of cigarettes to improve the experience.

Spoiler: Response to that stuff

I wanted to post the lyrics there, but Youtube ate my comment. Anyways, this is still the most points you've given to a 'serious' entry of mine.

Two more things:
-Did I touch what you didn't like about your entry in my thoughts, or was it something else?
-I have some not-so-serious potential entries in mind that you'd hate, but that's not coming in a long while, if ever.

Spoiler: Actual words about the entries, possibly even coherent thoughts.

South Korea(Block B - Nillili Mambo) - The intro was a little weird, but once the beat kicks in it all works out. It feels like stereotypical k-pop/rap, however oxymoronic/wrong that is or isn't(I have no clue on k-pop trends). It is well-made and fun to listen to, though. The outro is weird too, but also funny.

Spoiler: Response

The intro in the video is probably not part of the actual song. It's a Vietnamese folk song that is likely part of the artist in the video being in a Vietnamese-owned salon. Once the beat kicks in, the actual song is in Korean.

Spoiler: Response to the response

Where does the sudden transition from a solo eastern-ish overblown flute to movie-style orchestra thing(with added stock sword sound effect) fit in here, because that was the weirdest part.

[Scigatt]

Not-so-serious entries I'd hate? They must be really heinous to pull that combination off :V

You won't hate this in the way that I was thinking of earlier, but I think an old entry of mine might qualify for this.

Zorn's Lemma(MIDI download)
info

not shaping up to be a good contest thus far. even my mainstays of tool and peg didn't really bring me anything i cared for. oh no

Who do you think tool is? I have a suspicion, but they're not in this set.

[Scigatt]

Just finished my ballot. The order of my 10 and 12 depended on whether I was listening though speakers or headphones, so I had to switch back and forth to settle on the order, and I'm still not sure I got it right.

[Scigatt]

All right, I'll go over it again. If I stick to one listening method or another, a clear order is apparent; headphones make one sound richer and fuller while making the other exhausting to listen to.

Edit: Okay, I think I got it right now.

[Scigatt]

Yup

They do fine for music listening most of the time when I can use them.

[Scigatt]

How much overlap does "mainstream" j-pop have with actual anime music anyways?

[Scigatt]

i can only speak for myself but just because i give an entry points doesn't mean i liked it. for example, i only liked 5 songs this contest but had to give points to 5 other entries due to the rules.

Spain

Empire

...
5 - Belarus
...

Dang.

Also, I was hoping to post the lyrics to my entry in the Youtube comments, but my comment disappeared. I didn't want to post the lyrics while the contest was running, but I did go through the trouble of transcribing the lyrics myself, so here they are:

Spoiler: The Wondersmith and His Sons - Astronutalis(Lyrics)

I am a soldier, baby, who works just like a slave.
Sweating through the pain
of digging this foxhole
that he knows is just a grave.
You trust me don't you baby?
Yeah you'd hand your life to me.
Let's walk along the wire
and watch the muzzles flash like lightning.

A smile safe-crackers understand
is rendering this steady hand
obsolete.
You thought you caught my sleight of hand,
but you could never understand.
No, not me.

Father was a charming man with much hidden up his sleeve.
I wonder if this is what he planned when he taught his tricks to me.
The youngest was a clever boy, cracking calculus by three.
The eldest was a practical, and obsessively clean.
Then there was me.

I was born a charming man with silver tongue, pearl teeth.
It’s never how it’s s'posed to end, we’d promised all we dream.
The envy of the everyman, our family seemed complete.
Our father was a charming man, our mother a serene.

But now I’m in the run again, this hotel’s home to me.
They found the other skeleton, face down in the stream.
The youngest was still tucked in bed, that way they thought he was asleep.
They moved the mirror from his mouth, the fog that should remain
was not to be seen.
Not to be seen.

I am a doctor, darling, who used to operate.
But I couldn’t stand the pain of healing
only watch another woman waste away.
You trust me don't you baby?
Yeah you'd hand your life to me.
Let’s set this barn afire
and watch the flames eat up the roof beams.

A smile safe-crackers understand
is rendering this steady hand
obsolete.
You thought I must have broken in
but there’s no crime in coming in.
They hand me the key.

Floating on the wind again on the tail of my quarry
and a woman weak for charming men
who’s holding what I need.
She’ll leave her window cracked for me
and I’ll draft in like a breeze.
My father was a charming man
and I learned it all from he.

The brothers, born of Wondersmith.
We started as a team.
Like complementing cogs and gears
we built a head of steam.
The tragic flaw, a charming man,
was exactly as it seems.
Too much grease can break down a machine.

Pour another round on me.
Pour another round on me.
You know I’m good for it.
You know me.
You know I’m good for it.
You know my family…

I am a lover, lady, who sees just what you dream.
I know you’re going crazy
living with him and without me.
You trust me don't you baby?
Yeah you'd hand your life to me.
Let’s leave this life tonight
and race the sunrise down the highway.

A smile safe-crackers understand
is rendering this steady hand
obsolete.
The charm and confidence of men
can jam the bullets in your gun
and stop heartbeats.

[Scigatt]

Also I need to get like actual scoring spreadsheet or something going on next time because using the brain alone is sometimes confusing.

I keep a Notepad file on hand and move things around in that.

What I do is move the music tabs around in a Chrome window. IIRC this worked with 8 GB, at least back before Summer 2014, if you didn't any other applications running. One disadvantage of this today is that sometimes Chrome just decides to play all open Youtube videos from the start at once, so I have to deal with that.