In 6th place, scoring 11 points, @Suzzer99 with Song to Say Goodbye by Placebo
Alternate category: Guilty
No idea why Suzzer feels guilty about liking this song. I have been a fan of Placebo since they released “Every You, Every Me”, “Nancy Boy” and “Pure Morning” in the 90s and kept an eye on them ever since.
Brian Molko’s distinctive singing style might put some off but for me that’s part of the charm.
In 5th place, scoring 12 points, @skydiver8 with Hold Her Down by Toad The Wet Sprocket
This is fairly typical 90s MTV alternative rock. It’s an old track but it’s new to me and that helped beating Placebo and Shakira for example. It’s not the most original song but it’s well done and I like the slightly raspy voice of the singer. He is able to convey a mix of emotions.
So Toad The Wet Sprocket > The Doors? Well, yes, at least this week.
Meds was the first song of theirs I got into. I discovered it from some stripper’s myspace page. Strippers always know the best music.
It’s a guilty pleasure because “you lying tragic waste of skin” is like some diss poem I’d write in 5th grade. And I kind of suspect I’d feel that way about a lot of their lyrics if I spent much time thinking about them. But I still like it because lyrics don’t matter much to me. Just has to move my butt around in my chair.
Tier 5:
In 4th place, scoring 13 points, @Twist with Sanvean by Dead Can Dance
Alternate category: Voice/Folk [???]
I really like Dead Can Dance. I checked and I have ten of their releases on my hard disk. Mrs. Gerrard is an amazing singer but Dead Can Dance’s music for me doesn’t lend itself to casual listens. It’s great for when you want to listen to a whole able album and when you want set he mood or for relaxation, for example when getting a massage. At least, that’s how I chose to listen to them.
I keep Dead Can Dance in a folder alongside Enigma, Enya and Vangelis.
That’s how I approached this song and over timed I realized it can really stand on its own. I kept creeping up the ranking ladder but this is the end of the line.
Not sure I am going to just flat out go for winning, but I think I have a better idea about how to pick for suzzer than I have for pretty much anyone else here.
The final podium for this Walrus:
In 3rd place, scoring 14 points, @ChrisV with Telegraph Road by Dire Straits
Alternate category: Road Trip
In the beginning I get some distinct Bruce Springsteen vibes. switching back and forth between slower and faster parts is how Dire Straits can afford having a 14 minute song without landing on the trash heap. It’s like they stop and start anew. That way it doesn’t feel like one endless song which is the downfall of so many progressive rock efforts.
In 2nd place, scoring 15 points, @King_of_NY with Queen of the Night [from Mozart’s The Magic Flute] by Diana Damrau
Alternate category: Voice
It reminded that watching a live performance is still on my bucket list. This will obviously not be for everyone. Maybe it’s only for me. Opera is a genre that’s very different from everything else and not the most accessible. I only know and listen to a few of the more popular arias.
I am wholly unqualified to judge whether this is a great performance or not. It sounds great to me but what the hell do I know.
and the winner of the final category is:
In 1st place, scoring 16 points, @pyatnitski with Fairpoint Convention by Tam Lin
Alternate category: Story
This song could have easily made the podium in the story or folk category. I have a penchant for modern interpretations of medieval music. There are a bunch of bands who do this really well for German traditional music and I also like other artists that do it for British and Scandinavian traditional music. I’m glad to now have discovered Fairpoint Convention. They have released literally dozens of albums.
What makes this better than for comparison “Miri it is while sumer ilast” in 7th place is the addition for modern rock instruments (guitar, bass, drums). It adds some variety. For example, what’s that thing called they do at 0:20 (and repeatedly throughout)? Anyway, I dig that.
The singer also tells her story beautifully. I can listen to this on repeat. I have high hopes to find more like this in their back catalogue.
suzzer wins with 81 I think
I was trying my best to work in some Lisa Gerrard, although my foreign and voice went 2/1 so not much to be improved there. Probably could have improved 7th category but that is not where the war was lost for me.
Preliminary standings:
Quite possible I made a mistake somewhere. It does look like Suzzer has indeed won. With two first place finishes and his only misstep being in the trap category I consider him a worthy winner. Congratulations!
Thank you to all of you for sharing your music with me. I hope you had as much fun playing as I had hosting.
Here is the playlist for category 7:
I will create a top 10 list from all your entries but not today.
I should have 10 for category 7 and suzzer 11 for category 7, so there’s an exciting 3 way tie for not 1st between me chris and sky
You’re right. I will fix the standings.
I don’t think I have time for the next walrus. But I do volunteer to anonymize the entries. IE - send them to me and I’ll send them to the walrus.
Might be interesting to have the Warlus post the results then we all guess who it came from before the contestant claims it. I guess I’ll try to quickly copy and paste w/o looking at what’s in the post much. I’ll figure something out.
Looking at those standings:
-ChrisV had a chance of winning without ever making the podium. Suzzer needed to fail in round 7 with Chris finishing around 4-6th place
-pyanitski and King_of_NY have a very polarized range. pyatnitski had a weak start but finished strong
-jalfrezi and I should not start a band
Yeah, although it’s very long I never get bored listening to it as there’s always another bit of the song to look forward to.
The alternate category was actually song that tells a story, btw, but it works for road trip too.
@LouisCyphre fantastic job, boss. thanks for all the hard work. enjoyed the thread.
who’s up next, did suzzer opt out?
I should volunteer. I have more free-time than most maybe
