Glad you enjoyed something a little different. This was pretty mainstream by Beefheart standards though - I was tempted to throw you in at the deep end with something from Trout Mask Replica for the lolz but thought better of it after remembering a couple of work mates’ reactions.
Sections of this (guitar parts but his arrangements) are way ahead of their time. As an old writer mate of mine once wisely said “Beefheart integrates ancient music with music that hasn’t been invented yet”.
Widely respected as a painter (which he returned to)…a quite original American artist of a kind that could only have been produced by the 1960s.
My submission for the political song was going to be Dachau Blues but wasn’t convinced you’d give it enough listens to overcome the initial WTFisms. In a fair and just world it would’ve won that section hands down.
I successfully have no idea who is leading or what any of the positions are. Not going to think too hard about it.
Probably targeting reveal for day after tomorrow, I think? Timezones are confusing. The 1st of November your time, which is the morning of the 2nd for me. Definitely running out of steam and glad this is the last category, but it’s been a good time.
Btw - current plan is to ship my car to South America in about a year - tour S.A. - then ship from there to New Zealand then Aussie. I’m so excited. Spending a bug chunk of time in NZ and Aussie has always been a huge fantasy. I never wanted to go there for just two weeks.
CATEGORY 7: Something you wanted to submit, but were unable to shoehorn into any of the previous categories
I remember last time I ran this in a walrus, it was one of the weakest categories, which is weird. You’d think I’d get wall to wall great stuff, but instead for some entrants, it was like that controversial scene from that Netflix nature documentary featuring walruses hurling themselves off a cliff. If you think this means you, it probably does! Let’s get going.
What would I have submitted?
Well, that’d be telling. I think we’re probably going to play again. I’m going to keep my powder dry.
In 15th place, scoring 1 point, Master3004 with Stickshifts and Safetybelts by Cake
Little harsh, like it’s not without musical merit, but you really nailed my pet hates here, Cake were popular right around my college days and I’ve always loathed them. I think I mentioned that I don’t really like jokey bands and Cake’s sort of sardonic feel really rubs me up the wrong way. Listening to this with a permanent Do Not Want face on. This is not Going The Distance.
In 14th place, scoring 2 points, hokie with Lackluster by Saliva
I think there’s pretty strong general global agreement that nu-metal was a mistake and we should all do better in future. I think I vaguely remember this band from back in the era of Korn and Limp Bizkit, it sounds super dated imo. Not feeling this.
It’s the last round and I gotta let my subjective preferences run free.
In 13th place, scoring 3 points, Goebs80 with Goats in Trees by Foster the People
From the signup thread:
I kind of dislike a certain genre of indie music these days. It’s distinguished by vague musical noodling without any obvious melody and the vocals, if there are any, are disinterested in a particularly studied way, like it would be uncool to put any emotion into your singing
Maybe not an exact fit for that, but it’s headed in that direction. I find this sort of thing so dull, sorry.
In 12th place, scoring 4 points, Pauwl with Oom Sha La La by Haley Heyndericx
I find this pretty monotonous, which also means I don’t have a lot to say about it. It just went “oom sha la la” for a while then it was over. I know this is going to be an infuriating description if you like the song, but there it is.
That concludes the songs I didn’t like. It hasn’t really been NotBruceZ’s walrus and I feel bad about this ending up here, because I’m totally fine with it as a song. It’s just a strong category and there’s a lot I want above it.
In 11th place, scoring 5 points, NotBruceZ with Happy With Myself by Over the Rhine
Like I said, decent song. I found the chorus a little flat every time it arrived, and that stops me ever getting really engaged by it.
In 10th place, scoring 6 points, Twist with Eulogy by Frank Turner
I enjoyed this and enjoyed the sentiment, but there’s not a lot of song there, it’s really a novelty song. As such I couldn’t justify putting it higher than more fully-formed songs that I liked.
