just my general view on categories - try to pick ones that you think will be fun for the other ~13 people to explore. like kpop songs featuring ukuleles might not be fun for some weirdos. Walrus should be fun and exciting before it starts, only to inevitably turn into a hellish parade of stupid judges with stupid taste.
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This.
I tried to capture that spirit in the second post with some new text:
There are some exceptions, but mostly people I think people prefer to figure out how stuff they really like might fit with categories people submitted, rather than having to google to even find something that meets the category.
Matt’s category intrigues me enough that I’d like to sign up. I’ll try and think of a category by the weekend.
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There’s only one category announced so far, but I’m going to go with this anyway.
Category host name: eyebooger
Category: A song that fits another category in this grab bag, but you think it will do better with me. (Please tell me which category you are submitting for, as I am a stickler about category fit, and this isn’t intended to be a license to submit absolutely anything)
Musical tastes: Modern rock of just about any type and catchy pop, though I can appreciate just about all kinds except country.
Any other judging notes: Really popular songs will be judged harshly. I definitely gravitate towards newer rather than older stuff, and I especially like it if the artist is still active. But maybe the best way to help out is to show successes in the past. Here are my top 10 songs submitted to my categories from Grab Bags 1-5:
- Rizzle Kicks - Down with the Trumpets
- El Cuarteto de Nos - Ya no sé qué hacer conmigo
- No One Is Innocent - A La Gloire Du Marché
- Phoenix Rise – Protest
- grandson – Stick Up
- Backxwash – Deviancy
- Pierre Kwenders and Jacobus - Mardi Gras
- The New Pornographers – Crash Years
- Despistado - A Stirstick’s Prediction
- Virgin Snatch - Face In The Dirt (1:17-5:07)
Three of those are in another language, and I do always appreciate that.
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I’m so excited to adjudicate Anthems Part 2! This time we’re gonna get it right!
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Category host name: meb
Category: Modern Bubblegum Pop
Category definitions: The phrase Bubblegum pop originated in the 1960s, but we’re looking for the modern version here, so songs must have been released after the year 2000 to qualify. As for a definition: pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents (key note: focus on the upbeat and catchy parts of the definition)
Other judging notes: my preference is for submissions to feature a female solo artist or band with a female lead singer. Also there will be major bonus points for bringing something under the radar that I haven’t heard before to the table as long as it is a good listen and super catchy. For example: Call Me Maybe would be a great category fit but would lose points and rate poorly for being too obvious and well known.
Musical tastes: I hate country. I love pop, alternative, indie rock, EDM, folk rock, some rap and r&b. My musical tastes are eclectic and tend to boil down to just finding something enjoyable and often catchy to listen to. Partly why I thought this would be an interesting category.
Category host name: suzzer
Category: Supergroups (but not the kind you’re thinking of)
Category definitions: Ok, here’s the game: I want you to put together two bands/artists where the end of one artist’s name flows into the beginning of another.
For example:
- Clint Black Sabbath
- U2 Live Crew
- Peaches and Herb Alpert
- Captain and Tennille Young
- Blood, Sweat and Tears for Fears (I don’t mind giving this one away because I hate Blood, Sweat and Tears)
If you can somehow figure out how to string three artists together, feel free. Verbal puns. alternate spellings, acronyms, and partial words are all allowed. As long as the two artist names share at least one syllable, and flow together from a verbal reading of the printed letters, it will count. I won’t get nitty about pronunciation of stuff like Herb the name vs. herb the plant.
One caveat: one artist’s name cannot be fully enclosed in another. For example Captain BeefHeart does not count, even though Heart is obviously a well known band. An out-loud reading of the name needs to make it obvious that two artists are being combined.
Scoring: You will send me one song from each artist. Scoring will be 1/3 on how much the band name makes me laugh, 1/3 if I think you picked the best song by the two artists, and 1/3 how much I like the two songs. So even if I don’t love the songs, if the supergroup name is funny, and I think you picked the best songs, you’ll do ok.
If you pick artists I’ve never heard of, I’ll just do half funniness and half how much I like the songs, since it will be too hard to judge if it’s the artist’s best song.
My examples would all rank very high on the funny scale FWIW. Generally the less the two artists have in common, the funnier the juxtaposition. At least based on me and my stoned friends when we giggled all night coming up with these things 25+ years ago.
Musical tastes: I’m pretty all over the map, especially for this category. I’ll give a lot of latitude for stuff like Young Country that I’m not normally into.
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Oh hell yeah, number 3?
I love love love that song
I’d play, if possible.
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Category host name: Yuv
Category: New song. Send a song you’ve never heard until the moment of reading this post.
Category definitions:
To me the best part about Walrus is finding new music. If it’s by listening to other entries, listening to your own category or researching others.
It could be a completely new artist for you or one you are familir with but a song you were not.
Musical tastes: i tend to like stuff with some “groove” more, but not necessarily. Avoid things appear grandiose. No symphonic metal, no progressive rock. Also if the time stamp is super unique it will be lost on me cause i’m dumb.
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Not only is it possible, it’s damn well necessary.
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Excellent category idea.
It’s your call of course - just wanted to mention that people who have run “worst of” categories before have generally not enjoyed themselves. You’re kinda asking music lovers to find music they really didn’t like, and then you have to listen to it all.
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+infinity
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Yeah. Gonna rethink it.
EDIT:
Category host name: superuberbob
Category: Guitarless rock bands. Two conditions must be met to fit this category
- The band must not have a guitarist employed as a member
- The song that you pick from that band must not use a guitar (bass okay though). So a normally guitarless band featuring a guest guitarist would not count.
Musical tastes: The topic restricts you to rock music and my music tastes skew towards rock. I honestly don’t know how many guitarless rock bands there are and how much music they’ve produced. I can’t think of one off the top of my head and I’m curious to see what you find.
Any other judging notes: I assume most of what I get is going to be obscure and unknown to me since a guitar is considered an essential tool of a popular rock band. So I doubt it’ll play a role in evaluating the best of the group.
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Category host name: seities
Category: Find me a new Rap or EDM song!
note - below is an edited category description which hopefully is more clear than the original.
I have listened to a lot of Rap and “Hard” EDM this year. I would like to find a new song I like from one of those genres. I will list some examples of songs I like below as a guide. So just try to submit something that you think I might like, based on these examples 
Musical tastes:
Rap
I’m going to try and give examples that have been posted previously in Walrus (by me or someone else):
I correctly won a category judged by Louis with this: https://youtu.be/FSYvr7L1HqY
Yuv submitted this song that won a category of mine (I had not heard it before): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr32uP5ZPBY
I think it was Swanky who posted this absolute banger in a Walrus gone by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blJyX82m8iA
I (correctly again) won a Louis category with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnlJw9H0xAM&list=PLlHv2_0xmZFT_q7w3X5iobi5rd-oUGpI4
Generally I think I am just looking for a good, catchy flow. More recent artists like Kendrick, Drake, Travis Scott, etc are usually far more miss than hit from me.
Hard EDM
I’m not entirely sure “Hard” is the best categorization of my EDM preferences but its difficult for me to find a better term.
I was incorrectly not given 1st by someone (I think Pyat) when I submitted this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkexA9cYAds
Same again with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRSijEW_cDM
I did well in a miliboo category with this, but of course should have won: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVD1LV4Fdk
Other bands that play in a similar space that I have been listening to a lot of: Hyper, BT (thanks, Skydiver8), Blanck Mass, The Prodigy
I don’t know enough about EDM composition to describe the commonalities too well - probably just that they have driving beats, dark or atmospheric qualities, and for me its stuff that helps me get into flow.
Any other judging notes: I’m going to penalize stuff that is quite well known. Please don’t submit anything by artists I listed above - it won’t be new to me.
If you think this category is going to be difficult just let me know. I really would prefer to make a few adjustments that would make finding a submission more enjoyable than hold fast to these arbitrary requirements.
*edit to add - if anyone wants to essentially copy my category but substitute with your own genres and examples, feel free!
I don’t think it’s “difficult”, but I’m not sure I understand it. Do you want something of a similar style to those, or looking for something outside of those to add to your tastes?
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Thanks for the feedback.
I would like something of a similar style to those songs I listed.