Category host name: nano Category: Something with orchestral elements that may be non-traditional to the genre. Music tastes: I’m not very picky when it comes to something I’ll listen to. Not a big fan of death metal or country (though 60s and older is fine). If you pick something that is opera, a big band, or something that traditionally would have brass, woodwinds, string, etc together I will rate it low.
Acceptable question. Last place gets 1 point, second last 2 points, and then so on until first place gets as many points as contestants who submitted a song.
Category: Paranormal - Any song where the title or band name has a paranormal word used, the song itself may be about (or just reference) paranormal. It could even be a song that doesn’t make any references to paranormal, but you think would be a good soundtrack to exploring a haunted house. Just mention how you think it meets the category in your submission.
Musical tastes: I have pretty eclectic taste but lean towards faster/heavier music in Rock/Metal/Punk Hardcore/EDM/Rap. While something slow and atmospheric might be a category fit here, it is probably not going to score well.
Any other judging notes:
Overly familiar songs will get a penalty.
I will judge based on how much I like the song, not the degree to which it meets the category requirement. That is to say its a binary calculation on my part - it either meets the category or it doesn’t.
Category host name: Pauwl Category: Electronic - A song featuring electronic music elements. Keyboards, synths, etc. Songs with lyrics preferred. Not looking for EDM. Musical tastes: I like stuff from nearly every genre, but I mostly listen to indie rock and the sub genres under that. Genres I like that would fit this category would be dream pop, new wave and other experimental stuff that I guess falls under electronic rock. I do not like symphonic metal or nu-metal stuff like Linkin Park. No techno/trance type stuff. Any other judging notes: Overly familiar songs will be penalized. I want to hear music that is new to me. That said, there is a possibility for a lot of popular music, that I’ve never heard before, to do well in this category.
Any questions related to the category are welcome.
Category: Jazz, Folk, Metal (or clearly influenced by). Jazz is jazz. By folk I mean a pre rock ‘n’ roll genre from anywhere that isn’t Western ‘classical’ music, and is associated with a particular place. Metal is metal, (and left to my own devices I quite like the growly/screamy stuff).
Musical tastes: Folk, jazz, instrumental rock, doom, noise, bleeps/bloops, ‘world’. I’ll give anything a listen once. I used to listen to loads of weirder indie stuff, but hardly ever do now. I usually try and warn you off mainstream indie rock bands, but hopefully I don’t have to this time.
Any other judging notes: I probably won’t police the genres too much as that’s not my style, but if I’m confused as to why it fits I’ll ask for an explanation. Stuff that’s overly familiar to me will get devalued, so don’t be unlucky!
Category: Don’t Call it a Comeback: A song by a band where the band was good for at least 2 decades (i.e., 11+ years).
Musical tastes: Loud, weird, some bleeps and bloops, punk and metal, rap (mostly 2010 and earlier), anyone with just a guitar, country (think Townes Van Zandt rather than Garth Brooks), quiet stuff too. Pretty much anything goes, but avoid bands that were designed by an executive somewhere if possible.
Any other judging notes: It’s OK if the band became bad later. Give us old guys some hope!
Category host name: NotBruceZ Category: Troll music. Submit a song that you would submit to any other category in this walrus (so not this one) if the goal was to aim for one point. Musical tastes: Very eclectic, both in terms of genre and time. Based on what I submit, pretty much everything except metal and the hardest of hard rock, but my tastes don’t matter as much for this category. Any other judging notes: Please submit the host/category you are trolling. Explanations of why it trolls the host can only help. Blatant anti-pandering by picking a song that a host explicitly warned against such as as saying that a genre has no hope or straying from the boundaries of the category will count against you. This category will be graded completely subjectively. How much I personally like the song will matter somewhat, but how clever you are will probably count for more. Despite this being the “troll” category, I will also accept strong advocacy for music you really love that you know the host will hate and not just stuff that you think would be funny to force the host to listen to, knowing they will hate it.
This one sounds fun but I legit don’t think I know enough music to figure out these categories and don’t know if I’d have time to research. Gonna leave that last spot open to someone who really wants it but feel free to ping me if it doesn’t fill up. Happy to rail as usual though.
Wow that NBZ category is the most NBZ category imaginable, well done.
I believe you are talking about the musicologist definition of “traditional folk” music which your definition matches. This is not intended to be the “Folk music” that people associate with the 60’s popular folk revival. Please confirm.
Does it have to be pre rock and roll? Or can it be later field recordings with no association with rock or popular music?
I don’t mind when it was recorded, just that it seems to fit in a ‘folk’ genre. I wanted to give a maximalist definition of ‘folk’, really, so it wasn’t constrained to British or American music.
So lots of folk revival stuff would be fine given it’s clearly rooted in the musical styles that came before. I’m expecting to mostly receive music recorded post rock n roll.
(Well, that’s not true, I’m expecting to mostly get Metal.)
