Song Contest 128 (Results posted!)

[Parama]

Probably something song contest will hate this time

[Parama]

is that new

I usually at least try to enter something most people wouldn't hate but I'm not trying to do that this time

[Parama]

was gonna skip this one then decided i hated myself enough to enter

i was originally gonna enter a 17 minute ambient track (that i genuinely love) but i decided that would be too mean even for how much i don't care

I decided this was no longer too mean

[Parama]

i sure hope votes aren't due tomorrow considering the songs aren't even up yet

[Parama]

I'm skipping south korea on principle since there is not a single person here who doesn't already know the song

[Parama]

Tanzania – All Time Low Low Low Low Low Low is the only thing I’ve ever heard from this guy before and it sure is a song. Anyways this song title already makes me biased against it from the start. Just write the title out in full like a normal person. I was actually digging this until the electronic fade-in effect on the chorus that always, without fail, sounds terrible. This kind of feels like the indietronica version of the ICP miracles song or whatever. It’s like, okay, but that chorus thing hurts it a lot for me. (AVERAGE)

Yemen – So I know I’m good at negging on a lot of songs in these contests but this one is just plain great, honestly. If more indie rock sounded like this and less like generic soft ballad #94587 the genre would be way more interesting. Kinda wanna check out this album now. (GOOD)

Greenland – RWBY is one of those internet things I know exists but I know absolutely nothing else about it. Oooggh those horns just sound awful. Like both tonally and melodically, they just feel completely out of place. Aside from that this sounds like something off the Grease soundtrack. I hate that I know what the Grease soundtrack sounds like because my parents played it all the time. I don’t really like this sound in general and the horns don’t help. Not unlistenable, it’s upbeat and interesting enough but bleeehh. (MEDIOCRE)

Niue – I was thinking “boy that sure sounds like Kendrick Lamar” and then he was like “I’m literally Kendrick Lamar”. Aside from that, like, the way to get me on board with a hip-hop tune is to give it a good groove and make it fun, so yeah, I’m pretty on board with this one. About all I really have to say except that his is a really weird lyrical conceit for a song. But whatever. (DECENT)

Latvia – The only thing I know about the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise thingy is that Voivod were there and played because they put their set on the bonus disc of their album last year. I’m not a huge Voivod fan but that was a pretty cool album overall. Haven’t listened to the live tracks more than once. Anyways this song right here, totally blows. Only made it like a minute and a half into this one.

Indonesia – Okay, I was kind of digging this as a chill electronic piece until the chopped-up voices came in towards the end. Also not a super big fan of the high-pitched glitchy stuff but it’s tolerable. I dunno. I still do kinda like this but not as much as I want to. (AVERAGE)

Bhutan – Eehh. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of her voice, nor do I really like the production on this track. Nothing that makes me really dislike it or anything, it just isn’t really working for me, and it’s fairly repetitive for its runtime too. (MEDIOCRE)

Netherlands – Generic cheesy symphonic metal, anyone? Yeeaaah this has no distinct features to it whatsoever but I don’t dislike it, I just don’t care about it. (AVERAGE)

[Parama]

Monaco – It’s pretty much just a cover of Cats in the Cradle. They like, have a vaguely metal riff towards the end. It’s an alright song and this definitely is a cover of it that doesn’t change the song in any substantial way. (AVERAGE)

Slovenia – Sonata Arctica are a power metal band who tend to be more interesting than their peers, but at the same time never really interesting enough for me to be too invested in them. Like, yup, this is fine. That’s about it. Fine. Not particularly flavorful even for them either. I like it well enough but I’m gonna forget about it after this contest. (DECENT)

Egypt – It’s certainly interesting enough for a 9 minute track, but I feel the transitions between different sections don’t work so well, and the song seems to want to make me feel more that it actually ends up doing, or that’s the impression I get from the lyrics. Also wish the female vocals were used more. But I mean I do like this a decent bit, regardless, it’s pretty solid. (DECENT)

Hungary – Geez it looks like I rolled all the longer songs in the back half of this contest here. Oh well. Here’s the thing about symphonies and classical and general for me; while I can recognize they are very well constructed pieces of art, I fail to ever really -feel- anything listening to them and there’s not much about this that distinguishes it from any classical music I’ve had to sit through without enjoying in the past. It sure does exist and I can see why someone would like it but as something I’d choose to listen to, it’s a flat no from me.

eSwatini – Vocals are mixed waayy too far back compared to the instrumentation when they’re clearly supposed to be the main focus here, on the chorus where he’s just belting out the music is drowning him out and it doesn’t hit nearly as hard as it’s supposed to. This even continues when the full band kicks in. Like in all other aspects this is pretty good and I could see myself really digging it, but it’s not as powerful as it should be and specifically because of the mixing. (DECENT)

USA – I don’t have any thoughts on this. Like seriously. This entire song happened and boy does it sure exist. I guess I vaguely dislike his voice? But it doesn’t really bother me. It’s just. A rock song. (AVERAGE)

Liechtenstein – Apparently this has been getting a lot of traffic after hbomber’s DK stream, so I assume he shouted it out during that. Didn’t watch but heard pleeeenty about it. Good stuff. Anyways this song is pretty nice. Little bit lightweight in terms of content, feels a bit repetitive even for its length, but there’s a nice amount of soul to it and it sounds pleasant enough. (DECENT)

Iceland – I mean I already know a 17 minute ambient/drone piece is never gonna do well here but god it’s just, so intense.

Actually pretty decent contest overall, yeah. Just like, Lacking in songs. 17 entries total and 3 of them I won't consider giving points to so only 13 songs to fill 10 slots with, ehh

[Parama]

I can't believe a 17 minute ambient track is something song contest squad is actually on board with

My top 3 were all pretty good and probably could've been in any order, I'm gonna check out all three albums at least

[Parama]

Is average or decent better

Decent is better

It goes GOOD -> DECENT -> AVERAGE -> MEDIOCRE and I used to have BAD and DID NOT FINISH but I haven't had a reason to care about anything I disliked that much so they don't get rated anymore

[Parama]

If y'all sent better music I'd consider a great tier but there have been so few instances where it would be worth using that I don't tend to bother :V

& anyways it's rare that I love a song the first time I hear it

[Parama]

yeah if i redid my votes now i'd probably put a different song as my 12 but i already voted lol

[Parama]

Man this has been a dead as dead contest, results when

[Parama]

I mean I'm totally okay with my 12 winning yeah
If I redid votes Egypt would be 12 though and Yemen 10 but w/e wouldn't have changed results at all
Next time I'm entering post-hardcore again probably

[Parama]

I checked out the album and it's so bizarre that the reissue removed 1. The title track, which 2. Is one of the best songs on the album

The Gabriel Kahane album was cool too, Kensington a bit more mixed & suffers from production issues pretty consistently

[Parama]

yeah i do like the song but i think it's overly romanticizing something that really shouldn't be
i'm not super into the "white guy speaking for a black girl's point of view" the whole thing has going on but it did grow on me on relisten tbh
checked out the album too, it's not half bad