The chorus of Walren roars and belches has once again reached fever pitch. It is time to convene for another Grab Bag Walrus. With the help of Mr Middle-of-the-pack, @Pauwl, I shall once again organize this sordid spectacle of pinniped pride. Also, genitalia out for The GOAT, @pyatnitski, who cannot grace us with his participation due to being on holiday. We all know he would rather be playing Walrus…
Here again is a rundown of how this will work:
Each participant hosts and reveals a category of their selection.
This requires a sub-point: Please make sure you can meet your commitment to doing a reveal before entering. This will take hours of your time to listen to all the entries, likely multiple times, then do a writeup for the reveal. It’s up to you if you want to do an expose on each submission or just chuck in a few lines.
I think we need to cap this at 15 entrants maximum . That means 15 total reveals, and everyone will have to submit 14 entries.
We will set a timeframe by which everyone needs to do their reveals. This will depend on how many entrants there are.
Since there will likely be more submissions required than usual, it is going to be best to not get too specific with your category. For this format it is better to have a broad category where people can easily recall songs they like that will fit, rather than defining a really specific category where people feel like they are just searching for something they don’t care much about to meet the category. For example:
“A song in any language other than english” is probably ok. “A song in French” is too specific.
“A song from the 90’s” is ok. “A song from 1991” is too specific. Also keep in mind that I am guessing a lot of people on this board were born in the 80’s, so going back further than that is going to start to make it a bit more difficult.
If you are unsure about your category just ask for feedback in this thread. People will be happy to help.
Here is a template to use for posting your category :
Category host name: I would put seities here. Because my name is seities. Category: It’s fine if more than one person uses the same category. Musical tastes: Optional, but I like to give a very general idea of stuff I like or don’t like. Any other judging notes: For example, some hosts penalize for overly familiar songs, some don’t. Let us know if you have preferences.
We’ll do this as anonymous submissions. Please send all your submissions to Pauwl (except for Pauwl’s category) in the following format:
Category:
Category host name:
Your submission:
Link to submission:
Any commentary (optional):
For submissions for Pauwl’s category, send them to me and I will anonymize them and pass them on to Pauwl.
Next steps:
Signups. Will stay open for signups until end of day Wednesday (US West Coast time).
Your category should be submitted in this thread by end of day Friday.
After all categories are submitted I’ll follow up with a timeframe for us all to send our entries for each category to Pauwl and myself. Generally I am going to recommend sending a youtube link for your submissions if you can since it’s more accessible to everyone.
Last, despite the mundane, rule-laden post that this is, Walrus is meant to be fun. Try not to take any results seriously, and do yourself a favour and don’t take the reveal for your category too seriously either. The fun in this game should be found in the fact that musical tastes vary wildly. Whether your submission gets roasted or toasted take pleasure in the fact that you made them listen to it!
I’m on the fence for now, will make a decision in the next couple of days. I have some obligations upcoming at work and afraid I won’t have time for a full reveal.
Category host name: seities Category: A song with a scream. To expand, in a lot of punk hardcore you might say the singer is screaming every word. So that counts. But also, one long or short scream in the song counts. I’m not judging based on the scream itself. Musical tastes: I generally lean more towards things on the faster/heavier side within the following genres: Rock/Punk/Metal/EDM/Rap. Anything from 90’s onwards is probably going to have a better chance a high ranking. Any other judging notes: If it’s overly familiar, there will be a penalty. Try and keep it under 8 minutes, and if I am liking a 3 minute song and an 8 minute song a comparable amount then I am going to rank the 3 minute song higher.
Some examples in case it helps:
Slint - Good Morning, Captain: https://youtu.be/J87vtrC_JBM?t=398. The link should start you at about 6:38 of the song. The scream is central to a climactic end to the song.
Paint It Black - Greetings, Fellow Insomniacs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_meLg1UW9EI - Dude is pretty much screaming the whole song.
Tool - 4 degrees: https://youtu.be/8NGemR1cqZQ?t=213 - Clip should take you straight to 3:33 where Maynard belts out “Let meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…in”.
Really, even if there is just a 3 second scream in the song somewhere that has an impact, its going to work for the category.
Category host name: Yuv Category: A song that was released in 2020. I don’t listen to enough new music. I hope you young hip individuals can introduce me to music in the year of the pandemic Any other judging notes: I won’t specifically penalize highly known songs but tbh i don’t know many songs released this year to begin with
edit because never being understood is very depressing - I don’t actually care what genre you send. I don’t like Metal or Prog Rock as much, but that doesn’t mean you can’t send it
I love the first two categories so much that I’m in, will just find time to submit and listen to my entires.
Category host name: MJiggy Category: A song from a movie, TV show, or video game soundtrack Musical tastes I’ve made a reputation for myself (at least in my head) for liking popular music but I wouldn’t say that’s exactly accurate. I listen to some popular stuff but like a lot of alternative/indie rock, some hip hop, and just generally like being exposed to different genres of music although I definitely lean more towards “rock” these days. Any other judging notes For this category I really don’t want songs that were commercial hits. They can be from popular pieces of work but I will dock points if I would be expected to already be familiar with the song. I’ve immensely enjoyed the soundtracks of several movies released over the past few years but I won’t say which because people might pick them. Also they do not have to be in English; I don’t watch anime but I do sometimes like songs from it.
I’m thinking about it-- it’s always interesting to do these but this one might be a lot of time commitment and I’m not sure yet if I have that to give.
Yo. I might be able to be in. My criteria would be that the submission was after the 24th, as that’s the first day I’m ‘back’. I can get a category done this week.
No problem if not and don’t hold it up for me, but it seemed that possibly that could be true.
In any case it should be noted that as previous champion of this format and therefore proved to have the best musical taste here, if I don’t enter this one that will remain so regardless.
Category host name: eyebooger Category: A 2017-2020 political song appropriate for the times we live in. Musical tastes: Mostly modern rock (anything from folk to metal) and catchy pop. But it doesn’t have to be that. Alt-hip hop act Rizzle Kicks won my last category. The only genre that is a likely loser right out of the gate would be country. Any other judging notes: I’m basically looking for the next generation Rage Against The Machine. It doesn’t have to be the same style of music as them, but I want the anger and/or the message to be clear.
As long as it’s on the “official soundtrack” that’s fine. If it’s just a snippet they played out of context then no. Does that make sense? I wasn’t originally going to include TV because I don’t know how it works but a cursory search indicates that shows do indeed have official soundtracks.
Yar so I have a song in mind, and I think its valid since it shows up in a list that says “OST” for the show, so I am going to submit it and if it doesn’t come first for any reason whatsoever I will just let out a mighty, walrusy belch that will make your whiskers stand on end.
Category host name: skydiver8 Category: A song that is mostly about, invokes or heavily references a specific place. It doesn’t have to be happy or exotic, just interesting. Musical tastes: Anything but screamy metal. Modern country-pop is probably gonna rank low, as well, but I highly doubt anyone would submit that anyway. Any other judging notes: Since most of us are prisoners right now, let’s travel via music! Note: When I travel, I like to get real. Sure, I’ll see the touristy stuff, but I also want to get to know the real people and food and soul of a place, even if it’s not all good. Take that for what you will.
