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TIER: POINTS!
(12) PALAU -- Florrie {Experimenting with Rugs}
-- I appreciate this artist/title pun. This is totes the kind of pop I want more of - the drive, the hook, the variety. I initially thought this song was only good, but it got better with each relisten.
(10) GRACELAND -- Elias {Amazing Grace}
-- I was really worried when I saw the title, but I had no idea I needed this to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun". I appreciate that the vocalist has the restraint to stop this from entering corny territory. WWE jumps into my top tier again.
(8) NORWAY -- Bad Wolves {Zombie}
-- I have watched Doctor Eccleston and thus have never been able to take this band seriously given the genre. Similarly, I wish I had heard this
before
Norweigian Reggaeton. All snark aside, this is a great update to an iconic song. I'm bitterly unamused by how this song was banned during the Iraq War.
(7) UKRAINE -- Mary J. Blige {Family Affair}
-- I wanted to say this sounded like something I would have heard growing up, but better... and hey, it's from 2001! Heck yes. Mary J's voice is great. It probably didn't need a minute of outro, but that could have happened to worse songs.
TIER: POINTS
(6) BOLIVIA -- 河合奈保子 {大きな森の小さなお家}
-- Is this what the 1980s looked like in Japan? It has a heartbeat and it's cute without being moe, so it's taking the short road to my points list without distinction.
(5) MAFIASCUM -- Toolenduso {For Forever}
-- Wait, that's how you pronounce your screen name? I'm getting some serious musical vibes from this, but not in the ways I like. The vibrato is very heavy. "Appalachian" is pronounced with a "latch" sound, dammit. I respect that you put yourself out there and honestly you're good at this; this doesn't seem like a song that's easy to hit pitches on and you nailed them. Thank you for sharing!
TIER: POINTS?
(4) GREECE -- Puff Daddy w. Jimmy Page {Come With Me}
-- Now here's a name I haven't heard in a while. The mixing on this seems soft on the vocals, which is probably for the better - it's tough to screw up Zepp's backing.
(3) ATLANTAVANAAH - OutKast {Chonkyfire}
-- The backing is pretty cool. I won't claim to understand the appeal of the lyrics or the delivery but I can put this on in the background and chill.
(2) BRITANNIA -- Mishaal {Peddle Bike}
-- On the put-on-in-background standard, this is perfectly serviceable. It benefits from being as long as it has to be.
(1) CANADA -- Glennis Grace {Afscheid}
-- Dutch really is not made for this kind of song. The vocalist obviously has a very solid voice, but the song itself is the kind of pop ballad that probably should have been left in the '90s.
POLAND -- Brown Bird {Nothing Left}
-- This is unusual. I'm not sure I have the patience for it but my take is slightly better than neutral.
HOKKAIDO -- SEKAI NO OWARI {Dragon Night}
-- A song with people who want to avoid Ice Beams and Blizzards. This feels like something I should like, but it keeps poking me with how artificial it is.
PERGAMON -- Erutan {Jabberwocky}
-- I'd like to give this artist another chance with a different song. The voice is good, the musical setting is thoughtful, the texture of the lead vocal is a little indistinct, and Lewis Carroll has gone well beyond the point of being tedious to make reference to. Plus I'm thoroughly burned out on minstrel as a genre.
USA -- Yunomi ft. Akari Kitou {Koi No Uta}
-- It takes long enough, but this becomes something somewhat distinctive in its genre. I'm still not excited over it. The comments make this anime's premise sound kind of hilarious.
TIER: NO POINTS
FLAVORTOWN -- IDLES {War (Live on KEXP)}
-- I appreciate that it was actually at home. Did the vocalist make a mic whine noise first thing? This song doesn't just have an audience out there, it has a whole
scene
- even if I'm not part of it. :respect:
ANGUILLA -- Shabazz Palaces - {Endeavors for Never (The last time we spoke you said you were not here. I saw you though.)}
- I'm not sure if this is a song so much as an experience. I'm having difficulty parsing this. This placement is a best guess, but as advertised, I'm intrigued.
SWITZERLAND -- Arcus {Crawling}
-- This strikes me as something that people who are into a scene that I'm not would find really neat. The reversed bass synth in particular is attention-getting.
BURKINA FASO -- Self Esteem {I'm Shy}
-- This artist rolls hard with their gimmick. This doesn't really do much for me; the voice pitched up two octaves in the chorus doesn't work for me but without it there isn't really a lot here.
IRELAND -- LA Priest {What Moves}
-- This is a style I'm not on board with but I'm pretty sure this has a substantial audience elsewhere.
==TIER: NO POINTS.
ROME -- Ex Deo {I, Caligvla}
-- There is a place for this song, but I'm not sure what it is. I'm having difficulty expressing what it is about this that's turning my opinion against it, but there's a lot of it.
WHITE MOUNTAIN -- mewithoutYou {The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate}
-- This is another song that has a reasonable audience - the same people who like Rainbow Connection - but it's something I feel I have to sit through for six minutes.
ARMENIA -- Evil {A Child Shamed}
-- I'm surprised this band name wasn't taken. I'm not sure if this artist's gimmick is to add a dozen filters, but they're not helping.
SPAIN -- BLACKSTARKIDS {CIGARETTES}
-- This was the hardest of passes as soon as the vocals kicked in.
