Everything past this point was really good, next few choices are tough.
It was a penance song for the piano selection. Heās got a fair few better songs, but he canāt really sing in any of them.
Gonna take a quick break to shower and whatnot and ponder the ordering of next few songs.
Donāt feel bad. Iām not trying to win. Iām throwing out stuff I genuinely like because I am curious about the reaction.
OK, pondering accomplished. Here we go.
In 9th place, scoring 7 points, Lawnmower_Man with Cola by Lana Del Rey
Beautiful production on this, which is the main reason itās this high up. On first listen I was like meh, forgettable stuff, but I grew to appreciate the layered production. Like it, donāt love it. Apparently she wonāt perform this anymore after all the Weinstein revelations.
In 8th place, scoring 8 points, Louis Cyphre with I Donāt Care by Apocalyptica
I enjoyed this but it was another of those songs where the chorus feels sort of by-the-numbers and it acts as a bit of a letdown, which stopped me really loving it. Compare to a classic chorus, say, Metallicaās Enter Sandman, and youāll see what I mean maybe.
In 7th place, scoring 9 points, Johnny Truant with Protect Ya Neck by Wu-Tang Clan
Johnny justified himself like this:
Just because. This is the actual song that I think represents what Wu-tang is the best. Not their best song, not their most iconic, but very solid front to back and every verse reps the individualās style so well.
I would agreeā¦ but ābest representation of the groupā isnāt in the judging criteria, and you had to have known Iād know this super well. Also, while the whole album is great, this track is probably about mid-table on my personal ranking of tracks on the album. So I donāt feel like I can put it higher than this.
In 6th place, scoring 10 points, skydiver8 with The Passenger by Siouxsie and the Banshees
When you think about it, Siouxsie is the original Elizabeth Warren. Repping Native American ancestry while being white as a sheet.
I hadnāt heard this cover before and like it better than the original, so it was cool to hear this. I think that brass works really well.
1 Like
In 5th place, scoring 11 points, suzzer99 with Commodity Fetishism by Deskhop
This song is so underground that suzzer provided it to me with a Tumblr link. Here it is.
This is a mashup artist and was just a straightfowardly good time. I didnāt think it was quite seamless at some points, but it was a ton of fun.
In 4th place, scoring 12 points, microbet with California by Joni Mitchell
They wonāt give peace a chance / That was just a dream some of us had
Such a pretty song. It sounds great in headphones. Iām struggling to write much about this but itās such an exemplar of the period imo, really speaks of its time.
2 Likes
We have reached the final podium. The final boss.
I am running hellishly late for something, so Iām going to drop the podium on you and disappear, Iām sorry. If someone wants to count up scores they can do it, but either way Iāll count up and do a wrap up post in a day or so.
In 3rd place, scoring 13 points, WesleyC with Boots of Spanish Leather (Dylan cover) by Mandolin Orange
Iām not familiar with the original, but this is a gorgeous performance, so relaxing to listen to. Itās a little long, but I never minded. Very beautiful.
In 2nd place, scoring 14 points, jalfrezi with The Fire by Television
This is a very rare song, for me, where I was willing to forgive singing I didnāt love just because the rest of the song was so good. Bassline is great and the guitar work is awesome. Great stuff.
In 1st place, scoring 15 points, pyatnitski with Soul Fugue by The 100 Knights Orchestra
This is Daptone Recordsā 100th release and as a celebration they did this:
The Orchestraās āSoul Fugueā features EVERY HORN PLAYER THE LABEL HAS EVER WORKED WITH. That means members of The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, The Extraordinaires, The Soul Providers, and The Daktaris. Recorded with all participants present on February 29, 2016, the track is a Fibonacci-themed instrumental written and arranged by Daptone ace Bosco Mann, with brass and woodwind players battling out the musical thought from the left and right speakers respectively.
This is such a cool track. Swings hard, big depth to the sound, but never sounds gratuitous. I liked it more every time I heard it. Unique sound, a really good fit for the category imo, and a deserving winner.
I really have to run, my apologies, but I hope everyone has had fun. Iāll be back in a day or so to wrap up.
Thanks. Very dramatic. I had a shot at winning there which I never thought I would have, and especially not after a low-mediocre start.
Mitchell Goat. This live version of California oh good lord have mercy
Oh shit. Sorry Johnny. Must have been a casualty of transferring things to my spreadsheet. I donāt know that track so well, Iāll sort things out tomorrow.
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The Fire was my pick so whoever does the table thing better fucking remember that or theyāll soon be feeling the fire themselves.
Yeah the singing was their weak point but in this case it works because the singing and mood are there mainly as a prelude to that extraordinary solo, Verlaines finest imo.
I am going to ahead and disagree with you here. Nu-Metal has spawned a bunch of mediocre and un-original bands but it also gave us a bunch of really great songs. I like the mixture of aggression with a nice groove. Unfortunately many bands released the same song over and over again.
ChrisV,
I think you gotta deduct a few points from Louis for this post.
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