In 4th place with 8 points . . . Anna Calvi - Wolf Like Me
This is amazing. Very interesting. I tried really hard to justify a podium for this one. Her accent is the weird bit, I guess? Apparently she’s born and raised in the UK, so that doesn’t explain her accent, which is weird. Whatever the cause, she has a great voice. This is the kind of stuff I’m always hoping for but never actually get from St. Vincent. Awesome. Since I’m punishing other tracks for category miss I have to be consistent here, unfortunately.
Mr Bungle was me and frankly i was expecting a way better ranking :(
I thought it’s a great category fit and one that almost never fits any other category. In my head I visioned I’ll podium this only to whiff on the last category.
The bronze medal and 9 points goes to . . . Ween - Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)
Here’s another one I would dock a few points if this is from a Walrus vet. I’ve submitted Ween twice and ended in the bottom quarter each time, so I’m happy to give them some love here. One of my favorite bands of the last year. Not all of their lyrics quite hold up to the standards of 2020, but this one is fine, as long as it’s ok to make light of horrible infections. The solo in the final section is a highlight.
This one could have been a good submission for the live category:
Wow, I showed up just in time for my own reveal! Started to worry when I saw stuff like “Detachable Penis” and “Frontier Psychiatrist” so low that Ween might also fall in that group.
ETA: It was tough to choose between that and “The HIV Song.” I also thought about going with one of Frank Zappa’s normal-sounding / twisted-lyrics songs, like “Bobby Brown Goes Down.”
They are undeniably, extraordinarily talented musicians. They just have a super-weird sensibility. (I mean, you can’t make an album as stylistically diverse as Chocolate and Cheese if you’re not talented.)
The silver medal and 10 points goes to . . . Tanya Tagaq - Aorta
She was a bit of a hero in the progressive circles of Canadian universities 5 years or so back. She probably still is. This song is weird as hell to my ear, but that might just be my whiteness talking, as I’m pretty sure Inuit throat singing isn’t weird at all for the Inuit.
Edit: after a little research that isn’t quite right. It seems throat singing is traditionally done as a kind of game between two Inuit women standing face-to-face. The first one to run out of breath, laugh, or otherwise stop would lose the game. Interesting. So I think this track is genuinely weird in that it builds something pretty unusual out of the original game. I’m a little torn on how to judge this. It’s weird and interesting, but I don’t really enjoy it. Hmm. It might need a few more listens.
Later: yeah, this really grew on me. It’s much more than a gimmick.
The gold medal and 11 points goes to . . . Kayzo - Before the Storm
I got a little worried we were approaching Linkin Park territory in the intro and some of the breakdowns, but those sections don’t dominate and the verses are pretty badass. There are some really good electronic elements that are put to good use (see 1:30 and following for a highlight). I’ll listen to some more of this. It also does a really good job of being unusual but also being a great song. Cheers.
I think a song that was an international hit becomes “unweird” simply by repetition and recognition. It certainly has weird characteristic, but we got used to them i suppose.
