Song Contest - BOTB 5! (Results are in!)

[toolenduso]

Top 10:

India - Estradasphere - Super Buck II: Holy crap. Mario music in big band form. This. Is. Awesome. I am going to save this and listen to it whenever I'm sad. Like I can't express how cool this is to me. Have you ever had a cat that would sit on your lap and it would just close its eyes and purr endlessly and knead its paws against your stomach like you're its mother? That's what this song is doing to me right now. I feel like drifting off into a twilight sleep where this song seamlessly blends my childhood and my adulthood together in one delicious, jazzy smoothie. 8/10. There's even a damn bass solo in this. I mean...I mean...9/10.

Spain - Algiers - And When You Fall: Diggin the vocals. And the bass. And whatever that super distorted-sounding noise is (guitar passed through like three different effects?). Noice. 7/10. Yeah this was pretty cool. Better than Mew I think. 7/10.

Ecuador - Biffy Clyro - Know Your Quarry: Heard of this guy (band?) before, but never actually listened before. Man he's doing that whole intentionally mispronouncing vowels to sound unique thing. It's the same shtick Bastille and Of Monsters and Men use. Like the music at least. I liked this song more as it went on but then it ended really suddenly and it was disappointing. Meh. 6/10. The chorus of this got stuck in my head after one listen. Also I guess they're Scottish so maybe this is just the way he pronounces words? Ah, and Bastille is British and OMAM is Icelandic. So much stuff is making sense right now. Anyway...feel like bumping this up one and probably checking out the album. 7/10.

Cote d'Ivoire - The Vincent Black Shadow - This Road is Going Nowhere: Dude, coolness. Love the jazziness or whatever is going on in this song. Vocals actually make me think of New York Voices which I know is like probably 12 degrees separated from this band but still. Respeck. 7/10. Yeah feel about the same. 7/10.

Scotland - Florence + the Machine - No Light, No Light: Hey here's a song I know! Wouldn't have been my first choice off Ceremonials but I went through a phase where this was my favorite song off the album just like I did with every other song on it. What I like so much about this and everything else on Ceremonials is how fucking enormous they got everything to sound. Which, I remember reading a review where the critic didn't like that. And I kind of get it, maybe a little more nuance would have done Ceremonials some good. But in a way I think it was artistic. It was like the band exploring every niche of that sound that they could, and the production was just perfectly on point for that goal. It also makes every song sound very emotional which is cool because Florence has a great set of pipes for emotional singing. Gawd these drums would make Phil Friggin Collins jealous. I'm torn on whether to give this an 8 or a 7. I really like it but I feel like if I were listening to it for the first time I wouldn't find it any better than Mew. So how about this, I'll give it a 7 for now and then pledge to re-listen to the other 7s before I make a final decision. 7/10. Yeah still a 7. If it were some of the other songs off the album I might've rated it higher but yeah. 7/10.

Iceland - Mew - Comforting Sounds: I quite like this! Very ballad-y, good singer, sounds vaguely like DCFC. 7/10. Yeah this is enjoyable and catchy. Not blowing me away as much as some stuff in previous contests have. 7/10.

Greece - Rasputina - A Retinue of Moons/The Infidel is Me: Damn, is he playing that cello herself? *checks* Yup. That's pretty friggin' cool. I've seen indie bands throw in an electric violin basically as a gimmick before, but this is something else. They even have a friggin' marching bass drum and shit. Vocal choices are cool as well. The song itself I'm having a harder time digging into but on its face there's a lot to like about this. I'll give it a 7 for now. 7/10. Yeah it's good but not incredible. 7/10.

Kugelmugel - Mick Jenkins - Perception: I really like this guy's production. Feels like he does his own like Kanye. Like how his verses play around the rhythm too. Weird to say but I find myself wishing his songs had more solid hooks. They're cool in their own right, though. 7/10. Yeah I don't feel any better about this one. 7/10.

Slovenia - Rishloo - The Great Rain Beatle: So metal. Metal. This song definitely shows off some of the aspects of the band that I liked about Feathergun, but I don't like it quite as much. The slower bit in the middle is cool. OK this was cool. 7/10. Liking this more than the first time I listened to it. Definite elements of similarity to Mars Volta in this song. Don't think it's worth an 8 though. Should be at or near the top of the 7s. 7/10. Edit: Yeah, I forgot how many good songs there were in the 7s.

Belarus - Matthew Good - 99% of Us is Failure - Intro made me think this was a side project of The Paper Chase, ha. I'm diggin this song! That grating high-octave key is a cool addition, and he does a good job of conveying the feeling through his singing. 7/10. I feel like I would like the album this is on. Just a hunch. 7/10.

[Parama]

Chad – I feel like me writing up anything about this is pointless since it’s rap. The lyrics seem like parody lyrics though. I know enough about Childish Gambino to know he’s actually one of the good ones, apparently? Well whatever.

Madagascar – I also do not like Tom Waits. His voice, mostly. Even then, this song is so understated that his voice can’t even annoy me because this sounds so empty in every regard. It sounds like “bad live recording” quality and the fact that the instruments barely sound like they’ve been mixed adds to that. Maybe that’s what he was going for, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I legit don’t understand the appeal of this.

Greece – I’unno, this sounds a bit empty to me too. Like, I’m all in favor of a primarily string-driven song and what the strings do here is fine. The vocal melodies are making me think this is like something from a play though. Or cabaret or whatever. Probably cabaret. Her voice is fine enough though, yeah. Really not getting much from this but it’s alright, I like it way more than the other two thus far in this set.

Cote d’Ivoire – When the electric guitar enters in the chorus I barely noticed it because it was mixed so low. I mean, it doesn’t need to overpower everything else but it feels like it should’ve been a bit louder. Anyways this is fun and has piano and horns and all sorts of that stuff, pretty strong bassline too, I can dig it. Wouldn’t particularly say that it stands out or that I’ll want to check out more from these guys, but. Good.

Slovenia – The song you entered last time from them was pretty good but not outstanding and when I checked out both that album and this album I wasn’t really blown away by either, so maybe you can make me interested again or something. I feel like… the quality of the audio is off? I think it’s that the bass is too loud, it’s kind of drowning out everything else a little. That’s a little weird honestly. It makes this really annoying to listen to though, honestly. I like that this takes a lot of different moods in its short runtime and musically it’s totally fine, probably better than Feathergun, though it doesn’t have a catchy riff like that one did. Yeah, the last one I wouldn’t really call “prog” but this one, definitely would. We’ll see if I like this more on relisten then.

Republic of Kugelmugel – I mean I’m gonna guess I won’t like this one either judging by my reaction to the first song from him. Literally last contest. Yeah wow I don’t even like the music here at all so it’s even worse. Nice.

Iceland – This song is the kind of song basically destined to become one of my favorites, so naturally it has. Outstandingly beautiful front-to-back and the build in the back half of the song is one of my favorite things ever, honestly I always feel it’s way too short. I love Bjerre’s voice too. The instrumentation is simple on every front, and that’s probably why it works; none of the instruments get in the way of each other and instead they all build to a soaring climax. Beautiful music. One of the few songs I would rate a 10/10 track.

The Gambia – Oh hey these guys again. Wow that guitar work in the intro sure is… something. Hmm. Really all the instruments here reeeally are clashing with each other, fighting to be the dominant instrument, but… it kinda works to create a chaotic sound. Okay then the song decides to be a lot more upbeat and straightforward. For a bit. Hmm. Okay, the tempo change feels a bit strange to have then. I like this, but I dunno if I love it.

[Plotinus]

Managed to get my votes in!

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- his voice is a warm earthy brown with little patches of sunlight in shifting patterns on the dirt as if through the negative spaces of tree leaves.

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- comforting is a good description of this. Greys and periwinkles and reminds me of a few girls I used to know.

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- reminds of so many songs from the 90s. her voice is a steely grey and there's a rusty red and she looks like Tori Amos but she doesn't sound like Tori Amos and the chorus has some greens

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- This song too has a swaying rusty red and strands of purple like veins and the pink comes out of nowhere in the chorus but then goes away quickly again.

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- His voice is the licky dark chocolate brown

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- this song is like candy.

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- this one's complicated. but it's sticky like any other matthew good song.

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- it's very watery.

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- it has the urgency of rusty songs but it's a hurried urgency not a slow nagging and some of the stones are polished smooth and some are a little jagged.

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- Gold and pink and rust and blood and clashing colours and urgency and distress.

[Parama]

those are super pretty tho

[Parama]

Netherlands – I dunno, this is trying to have interesting instrumentation, but it ends up sounding really generic anyways. His voice isn’t really great and the lyrics are a bit repetitive at points. There’s some rawness to this that I do admire and it’s a decent listen but it doesn’t really feel like something I haven’t seen done better elsewhere.

Uruguay – Oh jesus christ, an 11 minute Woodkid track? At least it seems to not just be “GOTTA BE LOUD AND EPIC RAH” like every other Woodkid track I’ve ever heard, or not yet. 6 minutes in and still not yet. And I mean, yeah, it’s very pretty music, but this is just not something you can drag out this long and keep interesting the whole way through. Oh okay, 8 minutes into an 11 minute song you finally decide to have the song come to life? Too little, too late, sorry man. Okay, I was curious, so I looked it up. APPARENTLY only the first piano part of the song and the loud part of the song are ~actually~ The Golden Age and the rest in the middle is just… I dunno, really, but the song works so much better that way than it does so horribly stretched out like this is. The song comes alive halfway through instead of for the last quarter or so.

Singapore – This was the track out of all of them that I felt benefitted the most from the live version. For one, the piano that sounds slightly offbeat on the actual album is onbeat here. On top of that the song just sounds a lot more full and Kimbra’s performance is better than the album as well. Didn’t really appreciate this track until I first heard this version and now I can only be a little disappointed in the version we did get. Anyways what I’m trying to say is good on you for picking this version of the song and you’re probably gonna get high points.

USA – Oh god, I hate this guy’s voice. I can’t even say why, it just makes me want to punch him. The rest of this song is alright, pretty good even, it’s upbeat and fun, nothing special, but with that voice in front of the mic I can’t really enjoy this very much. Even the backing vocals are fine. Man. I’m sad, this would be really good with a better singer. Ooh and that swing feel at the end too. That’s great. Siiiigh. Might still get points, dunno, maybe the voice will grow on me?

Fiji – “Abomination” is in the title. Do I have to listen to this. Uuuuggh. This is actually painful though. I know the point of this is to sound like the track is having audio errors but that’s, secretly, not pleasant to listen to, in any way? I don’t understand the appeal of this in the slightest. Yeah no I’m skipping out on this, I can’t stand this.

Taiwan – Her voice is pretty good, but other than that this is painfully generic and bland. There’s just nothing about this interesting, no riffs, no bassline, no drumming, no vocal lines, it’s not bad or anything, it’s totally fine, there’s some crunch to it, but beyond that it just really bores me, this song feels way long than the 3.5 minutes it is.

India – Yup, this is definitely a jazz cover of an iconic SMB2 track. I dunno, I’m way past the phase of “wow they played this song but with different instruments which somehow makes it way better apparently?” covers. I mean yeah, the instrumentation is good, they do some nice things with it, but at the end of the day it’s the same melodies for the most part.


Each of the four groups' top pick from me is legitimately quite good, though one of the four I knew beforehand so that's a bit diminished, this was a pretty solid contest all-around though, I feel like my top 10 will have at least "good" songs even at the 1 and 2 point levels.

[Chevre]

I feel like this is the best place for me to say that even throughout nine seasons, sixth-place finisher Melanie Martinez is literally the most successful artist from "The Voice", which is exciting, but it's horrifically mystifying that that show still somehow keeps trucking along without any real payoff in the musical world

[Bins]

Christina Grimmie tho?


I suppose her success really doesn't have a lot to do with the Voice.

[Marquis]

3 different people have brought this exact topic and conclusion up with me this week

[Bins]

Man, half the times I watch the show the contestants are off key and are flat. They also aren't the best performers - which is, yeah, part of the point of the show. It shows that it really isn't just about having the voice. Being famous sadly has a lot to do with image. And I don't just mean like "be pretty", more like, "be interesting."

[Bins]

And "be able to carry yourself in the spotlight."

[Chevre]

Yeah, Christina Grimmie was successful before the Voice, but she's like, the second best contender. When I saw she was on I was like " . . . isn't she going to win since she already has a HUGE YouTube fanbase?" but then she didn't which was even more lol

Then you have Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery, who had blips of country music stardom. I also have a Michelle Chamuel song in my Spotify playlists now, but that was because of Discover Weekly.

But that's about it!

[quadz08]

It does make me happy that Melanie Martinez is the most commercially successful artist - she's somebody that Adam really went out on a limb for because she was Different (and Christina hated her fucking guts for some reason). I really think she would have gotten farther, but she was really off-key when she did Crazy and it screwed her. But her album is SO GOOD. Just, so good. Ugh.

[Parama]

i'll do my votes now so i can listen to the new baroness album streaming after, ok

[SnowStorm]

1. Iceland (Mew - Comforting Sounds) - Very nice way to start the contest. This is great.

2. USA (Patent Pending - Let Go) - Nahhh. This is too energetic for me.

3. Fiji (Venetian Snares - Abomination Street) - This is pretty cool. Ok, this is great too.

4. Wales (San Cisco - Fred Astaire) - It's nice enough. I like his voice.

5. Spain (Algiers - And When You Fall) - It's good, but it doesn't hold me like the one that was entered in the SC.

6. Italy (The National - Fake Empire) - I love the National.

7. Uruguay (Woodkid - The Golden Age) - Meh. Not a fan of Woodkid.

8. Madagascar (Tom Waits - Chocolate Jesus) - I really liked the sonority of Hell Broke Luce, but there's none of it here.

9. Hungary (Esti Kornél - Akkor hagylak el) - Meh. Neither his voice or the instrumentalization particularly please me.

10. Ecuador (Biffy Clyro - Know Your Quarry) - No.

11. Cote d'Ivoire (The Vincent Black Shadow - This Road Is Going Nowhere) - I liked the one from the Song Contest better. Nice, still.

12. Qatar (XYLO - America) - Meh, pretty banal.

13. Mali (Arthur Beatrice - Who Returned) - Aw yeah. I want more of this!

14. Scotland (Florence and The Machine - No Light, No Light) - She's great. This is great.

15. Burkina Faso (Aimee Mann - Save Me) - This is one of my favorite songs. I love everything about it.

16. Chad (Childish Gambino - Bonfire) - Aw shit! Why am I loving this?!

17. Belarus (Matthew Good - 99% Of Us Is Failure) - The start was chilling, but the rest was meh.

18. St. Lucia (Melanie Martinez - Soap) - Hmmmmm... no...

19. Greece (Rasputina - A retinue of moons/the infidel is me) - Pretty cool.

20. The Gambia (Rx Bandits - Hope is a Butterfly, No Net its Captor) - Mehhh. See USA.

21. India (Estradasphere - Super Buck II) - Ah look, it's Jazz.

22. Taiwan (Hop Along - The Knock) - It's nice. I like it.

23. France (Metric - Cascades) - On one hand, I love Metric, on the other, I'm not very into this last album or even this particular song. They have so much, much better songs.

24. Gabon (Of Monsters and Men - Empire) - Meh. It's easy to listen, but nothing special.

25. Singapore (Kimbra - Two Way Street (Live)) - It's ok.

26. Republic of Kugelmugel (Mick Jenkins - Perception) - Cool. Liking this one more than the one from the Song Contest.

27. Slovenia (Rishloo - The Great Rain Beatle) - These guys are really good.

28. Western Sahara (Broken Social Scene - Anthems For A Seventeen-Year Old Girl) - Pretty nice

29. Netherlands (Bright Eyes - Sunrise, Sunset) - Nice.ish.

30. Chile (Patrick Wolf - To the Lighthouse) - Really cool.

31. Portugal (Lana Del Rey - Born to Die) - I like Lana, but Born to Die has been played to exhaustion and she has better (and less dated) songs.

Overall, good contest. Even though I didn't like some songs, there was nothing that I outright hated; also had a lot of songs fighting for the last 2/3 spots.

[The Bulge]

Iceland (Mew - Comforting Sounds) -

Loving the intro and it moved on right before it got boring. Nice. The rest of the song kinda follows the same formula, adding an extra layer to the loops every few phrases. I don't love the idea behind that, but at least it keeps the song pleasant and engaging the whole 9 minutes.

Mid points.

USA (Patent Pending - Let Go) -

God what a bunch of punchable faces. Video aside, I really can't stand any part of this.

No points.

Fiji (Venetian Snares - Abomination Street) -

I like the very contrasting acoustic/glitchy styles here. Overall, the song doesn't quite hit the mark, but I appreciate the production.

Low points.

Wales (San Cisco - Fred Astaire) -

The tempo change-up is nice. Melody is pretty generic, but not a bad instrumental at all. Reminds me of Neon Trees.

Low points.

Spain (Algiers - And When You Fall) -

Groovy af as fuck. But a little bit tiring to listen to.

No points*.

Italy (The National - Fake Empire) -

I really really wanted this to go somewhere but the hi-hat/snare pattern wasn't enough for me.

No points.

Uruguay (Woodkid - The Golden Age) -

The intro was a gorgeous buildup to the rest of the song. A couple issues with the balancing at certain parts, but this was alright. Definitely struck me as something people would hail as being "amazing" and "complex" without actually being either of those things (Woodkid in general?).

Mid points.

Madagascar (Tom Waits - Chocolate Jesus) -

Not my thing. And very hard on the ears at parts.

No points.

Hungary (Esti Kornél - Akkor hagylak el) -

Nice. That's all.

No points*.

Ecuador (Biffy Clyro - Know Your Quarry) -

Intro was promising but grew very disappointingly generic very fast.

No points.

Cote d'Ivoire (The Vincent Black Shadow - This Road Is Going Nowhere) -

This Song Is Going Nowhere.

No points.

Qatar (XYLØ - America) -

Boring boring boring and repetitive.

No points.

Mali (Arthur Beatrice - Who Returned) -

I can't quite place what I didn't like about this. Sorry.

No points.

Scotland (Florence and the Machine - No Light, No Light) -

Florence and the Machine is one of those bands that I have no good reason for why I haven't listened to any of their stuff. Maybe I should?

Mid points.

Burkina Faso (Aimee Mann - Save Me) -

Link wasn't working for me but managed to find another source. All that trouble... (Mostly kidding this wasn't bad it's just really not my thing)

No points.

Chad (Childish Gambino - Bonfire) -

Camp was the probably the first hip hop album I ever listened to the whole way through and... to be honest I didn't love it. But this is such a solid track damn. I can't help but rap along with the whole thing every time it comes on in the car.

High points.

Belarus (Matthew Good - 99% Of Us Is Failure) -

Love me some Matthew Good but jesus that intro/interlude/ is painful. Would give this points if not for that.

No points.

St. Lucia (Melanie Martinez - Soap) -

Had to chuckle to myself when the bubbly instrumentals came in the first time. That was pretty cheesy. But an excellent track nonetheless.

High points.

Greece (Rasputina - A Retinue of Moons/The Infidel is Me) -

Awful vocals, a disappointingly simple string section, and a middle school percussionist all lumped together by some of the worst mixing I've ever heard.

No points.

The Gambia (RX Bandits - Hope is a Butterfly, No Net its Captor) -

The changeup at about a minute and a half in was very poorly executed and entirely unnecessary. Oh there's more of those. Ok I was gonna say the rest of the song was ok, but this is driving it into the ground.

No points.

India (Estradasphere - Super Buck II) -

Oooooh Super Buck II I get it. Nice.

Mid points.

Taiwan (Hop Along - The Knock) -

Wow. Those vocals went from "this is alright" to "what the shit are you doing fucking stop" real fast. Instrumental is snore-inducing.

No points.

France (METRIC - Cascades) -

Canadian talent repping this contest! I almost submitted The Shade because I listened to it on repeat all summer. Fucking love Metric.

High points.

Gabon (Of Monsters and Men - Empire) -

Disappointing considering how much I loved Little Talks and liked Crystals.

No points*.

Singapore (Kimbra - Two Way Street) -

She's pretty good live! I really loved the last song you entered, but this one doesn't quiiite do it for me.

No points*.

Slovenia (Rishloo - The Great Rain Beatle) -

Ehhhhh it's like Muse but not as good?

No points*.

Western Sahara (Broken Social Scene - Anthems For A Seventeen-Year Old Girl) -

I always assumed from their name that Broken Social Scene was some sort of emo post-punk idk. And the song title really didn't give me any hope at all. This was surprisingly none of that. Not amazing, but not what I expected at least.

No points*.

Netherlands (Bright Eyes - Sunrise, Sunset) -

Seriously did not expect to like this as much as I did.

Low points.

Chile (Patrick Wolf - To the Lighthouse) -

This song invokes no feelings positive or negative.

No points*.

Portugal (Lana Del Rey - Born to Die) -

I do like Lana, but the overplay kinda killed this song. And there are certainly better songs from her you could have entered.

No points.

*I had originally marked a lot of these as "low points"; this was a consistently decent contest with a few seriously standout tracks.

[The Bulge]

Portugal (Lana Del Rey - Born to Die) - I like Lana, but Born to Die has been played to exhaustion and she has better (and less dated) songs.

Portugal (Lana Del Rey - Born to Die) - I do like Lana, but the overplay kinda killed this song. And there are certainly better songs from her you could have entered.

Hello friend

[Parama]

i like how i always seem to do pretty decent in BotB contests without ever entering artists i entered the first time around
but then i suck in every other contest

[quadz08]

Iceland – Mew: this is very meh the whole way through (B-)
USA - Patent Pending: ugh yes, this is awesome (A)
Fiji – Venetian Snares: decent, but too disorganized for my tastes (B-)
Wales – San Cisco: Pretty sweet! (A-)
Spain – Algiers: Pretty good, but not spectacular (B)

Italy – The National: Same as Spain (B)
Uruguay – Woodkid: Fairly decent, may get points (B+)
Madagascar – Tom Waits: sure is tom waits (B)
Hungary – Esti Kornel: Fine, nothing special (B)
Ecuador – Biffy Clyro: see hungary (B)

Cote d'Ivoire – The Vincent Black Shadow: This was pretty cool (A-)
Qatar – XYLO: interesting but not awesome (B)
Mali – Arthur Beatrice: just didn't hold my interest at all (B-)
Scotland – Florence and the Machine: This was pretty good. I dig it. (A-)
Burkina Faso – Aimee Mann: Ehh. (B-)

Chad – Childish Gambino: Oh my god the lyrics in this are so good holy shit (A)
Belarus – Matthew Good: EHHH (B-)
Greece – Rasputina: This was interesting. Might see points. (B+)
The Gambia – RX Bandits: Interesting. (B+)
India – Estradasphere: This is kind of excellent, not gonna lie (A-)

Taiwan – Hop Along: this is pretty decent (B+)
France – Metric: Pretty okay, not great (B)
Gabon – Of Monsters and Men: Pretty decent! (B+)
Singapore – Kimbra: Okay, but not as good as I'd hoped (B)
Republic of Kugelmugel – Mick Jenkins: Pretty excellent, I dig it (A-)

Slovenia – Rishloo: Pretty solid (B+)
Western Sahara – Broken Social Scene: dull and repetitive (B-)
Netherlands – Bright Eyes: I get the appeal of Bright Eyes, but he's generally not for me (B)
Chile – Patrick Wolf: This is okay, but not spectacular? Maybe points (B+)
Portugal – Lana Del Ray: Ehhh I wanted to like it more than I did (B)

[Porochaz]

I liked a lot of that with nothing being outstanding.

[Cephrir]

I'm surprised by the extent to which I randomly internalize negative commentary on songs I enter in this.

[Plotinus]

I liked your song, Ceph! I hadn't heard it before because I don't listen to radio much.

[Cephrir]

I don't listen to the radio ever, I didn't even know it was well-known >_>

[Plotinus]

I didn't know until other people here said it was and i was just taking their words for it.

these days, i mostly find new music by youtube autoplay.

[Parama]

i know of lana del rey because i vaguely pay attention to the billboard charts but i don't actually listen to a lot of the songs bcuz a lot of radio fodder is mindless garbage

[Marquis]

poor kimbra