In 10th place, scoring 7 points, Twist with Ondiek by Ayub Ogada
When the music stays for the most part in the background the heavy lifting has to be done by the singer. Gentle vocals alternate with slightly more intense parts but the variation isn’t pronounced enough for my taste. Later we’ll see an example of how in my opinion this can be done better. Regrettably this is as high as I can put it. Such are the vicissitudes of a strong category.
Top ten’ll do me. The laid back nature of the track is what draws me to it tbh.
I actually figured that out when I thought about what my submission for this category would be. For some of the categories I had a song or more in mind when creating it. This wasn’t one of them. I believed I had plenty to choose from and in a way that is true. For metal songs Norwegian, Swedish or Ogrish are fairly common languages. Those songs aren’t really suitable for general audiences though.
Despite the difficulties you all did a pretty good job. There isn’t a bad song in this category in my opinion.
In 9th place, scoring 8 points, NhlNut with Oye Como Va by Santana
I can’t really point to anything specific that is wrong here and there probably isn’t. It has a lot of interesting elements, not the least of which is guitar wizard Carlos Santana doing his thing. Still this song doesn’t get my blood pumping. Having heard it before I don’t know how many times certainly doesn’t help. A good song that isn’t as fresh as some of those yet to be revealed.
In 8th place, scoring 9 points, ChrisV with Miniamba by Future Prophecies [Feat. Mari Boine]
On the hand it does feel a bit like an angle-shoot to submit a song that only repeats one word, on the other hand the category isn’t “a song that tells a story in a foreign language”.
This is the kind of electronic music I can get into. Give me a banging beat to nod my head to. Check. It can’t stop there. There has to be something else and the offerings are scant. Playing it loud didn’t really change that.
In 7th place, scoring 10 points, Pauwl with Hypsoline by La Femme
If I had done this write-up after I listened to it once it would have looked like something like this: “The song begins. It’s pleasant. Then it’s over.” and I would have ranked it accordingly farther down. I missed the details. For example, is that a harpsichord I hear? Whatever it is, it adds a nice touch. The judgment still is: it’s pleasant but now I’ll be less flippant about it.
Now we go from good to really good. On to the next
Tier 4: The Polyglots
In 6th place, scoring 11 points, miliboo with Mi Revolución by Cuatro Pesos de Propina
From here to 3rd place it’s all quite close and the ranking was very much in flux until the end.
I like how the singer conveys his emotions and it gets increasingly intense. This song while quite good is a bit formulaic which kept it from maybe jumping up an additional spot or two.
Shrug, I’ll take that. Really didn’t know how it would go.
That album is really good imo, but it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. The songwriter for Future Prophecies is? was? a classically trained musician and they used to do live shows which combined DJing with live percussion and brass and stuff. A few of the tracks off the album got dancefloor play (notably Dreadlock and September) but others are completely unsuitable for the floor. My fave track on the album might be the title track, Warlords Rising:
YOU ARE READY TO FIGHT THE SHAOLIN.
Pretty sure nobody ITT will like that except for me, but there you have it.
That sounds like it’s from a Mortal Kombat movie
ChrisV submitted a top choon imo, right up my street.
Deliberately avoided
trance/techno/dnb submissions due to OPs aversion to the genre.
That’s not for me.
In 5th place, scoring 12 points, King_of_NY with La Rage by Keny Arkana
This song commits what I think is one of the common sins in hip-hop namely to have one beat on a loop for minutes on end. This can easily end up in me getting bored. Whoever is on the mic better do something to keep this from happening. Luckily this is the case here. My French is barely sufficient to translate “La Rage” but that isn’t even necessary because I can feel the angry energy coming from her mouth. I nod my head along and enjoy the ride.
zomg
If I worked out I’d put this La rage tune on my playlist. Nice.
In 4th place, scoring 13 points, Suzzer99 with Chan Chan by Buena Vista Social Club
This is the song I was referring to earlier in the write up for Oudiek by Ayub Ogada. There are parallels. We have guitar and drums in the background but here the song steers clear of monotony with a horn section and guitar solo. This really grew on me with repeated listens. Anybody else feel a longing to sit in a bar in Havanna? The movie Buena Vista Social Club has been on my watchlist forever and I should make an effort to finally watch it.
Now for the Walrus podium
In 3rd place, scoring 14 points, NotBruceZ with El Matador by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
The thumping beat of the drums, the energetic vocals and the horn section make for a rousing song. It’s more complex than for example Mi Revolucion which is why I like this one a tad more. MATADOR! MATADOR! MATADOR!
Ooh like this 3rd place song
Toughest category for me. I know like 2 foreign language songs. Happy not in relegation zone.
edit: I tried to fill pick songs that are in my regular rotation or close to it.
Almost forgot
ZOMG REVEAL
TOP TIER: Cunning Linguists
In 2nd place, scoring 15 points, smrk4 with Llorando by Rebekah Del Rio
NOT ON SPOTIFY
Apparently this it taken from Mulholland Drive which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I haven’t seen it for a while and can’t remember that scene. It’s also a cover version of Roy Orbison’s Crying. So much for trivia.
More importantly, it’s hauntingly beautiful. Move over, Roy. Just like Hendrix owns All along the Watchtower, Del Rio now has the definitive version of Crying. That voice can give you goosebumps.
This would also have been a great submissions for Category 3.
This leaves only:
In 1st place, scoring 16 points, microbet with Shir Nehama by Hadag Nahash
When I listened to it for the first time I was disappointed when after the intro they started rapping. It didn’t conform to the expectation of what I felt should come next. I quickly changed my mind though. They take all these different ingredients and turn it into a product that’s more than the sum of its parts. We have some rock, some hip-hop, some middle Eastern music, something that could well be Flamenco and I don’t know what else and we end up with a very tasty musical stew. It also avoids what was a point of criticism with La Rage. Observe the variety found between 0:30 – 1:00 for example.
From the first listen there was always at least one part of my body moving. I love it.
