Category : A track which includes any instrument that isn’t a guitar, keyboards or drums (or voice)
Musical tastes : Make me feel something, but it’s easier to say what not to submit - ABC music of any genre (eg that means 99% of metal), stadium rock apart from a few of the 70s giants, tepid 80’s jazz/funk, boy/girl bands, C&W, Autotune, that 80’s keyboard/drum machine sound, bongos, virtuosity for the sake of it, singers who sound like massive wankers (aka Morrison/Morrissey syndrome)
Any other judging notes: Points deduction for over-familiarity. Also, if it’s very long it needs to be a lot better than a 4 minute version of the same song would be. More pointers in my walrus.
Category : A track that obviously uses repetition. A track that obviously uses repetition. A track that obviously uses repetition.
Musical tastes : From my Walrus:
My musical history is that, mesmerised by The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat at age 13, I quickly disappeared down a noisy/avant-garde rock hole. I then slowly dragged myself out via (largely) jazz, folk and ‘the classics’ in my 20s, but have then listened to all sorts this past decade or so. Perhaps unusually I probably listen to more stuff without singing than with. I will warn that my musical kryptonite is useless indie bands being ‘moody’ or anything that sounds like it should have a tune but doesn’t.
I realised after the walrus I could just have said “my musical kryptonite is useless indie bands.”
Any other judging notes: Like others I’ll be deducting if I know it well, unless you happen to submit something I absolutely love. I won’t be able to help it, I just always prefer listening to something new. And I will deduct if I don’t think the repetition is there or prominent enough.
I’m new to the booming industry of Walrus, so I hope the category is inline with the spirit of the game. Let me know if it needs tweaking.
Category host name : Yuv Category : Humor. A song you actually like and find funny/humorous/witty. It can be just one line you think is amusing, it could be comedy music. Hell, it could be a funny composition if you’re into that. It just have to be intentionally funny and not “It’s funny cause it’s terrible and she can’t sing”. Musical tastes : I’m kinda allergic to progressive rock, but you do you. Any other judging notes : No Weird Al Yankovic allowed. Sorry. I will judge songs based on how much I enjoyed listening to them, but it’s more of a glimpse to where you guys find humor.
No points deduction for I know it well and I like the song, but bonus difficulty points if I’m not familiar and enjoy it.
As an example, while you can just pick a comedy song and it’s fine if that’s what you want, something like this is also within what I’m thinking of:
Feedback from other contestants on this category is welcome. My take is…A category solely for comedy songs isn’t the best. But that’s not what you’ve asked for. If something just has to have at least one funny line in it, and that’s broadly applied (eg a funny insult in a diss track would apply, for example) then I think it shouldn’t be too hard to find a track.
Sure, it can also be much less “funny” than that. I’m not that interested in comedy songs for the category, but it’s not a disqualification if someone has one he really likes (unless it’s Weird Al).
Cool cool. Jalfrezi posted a song earlier in the thread where the very last line was funny/unexpected. So it sounds like even that sort of thing is the intent here. In that case I think there is plenty of latitude for people to find something and its a good category.
Maybe just one thing to add would be what you are judging based on. Since the humour doesn’t have to be a core component, I guess its just overall enjoyment? Might help to spell that out.
Category host name: Pauwl Category: Songs that invoke dreamlike thoughts. Dream Pop or New Wave, No Wave, Dark Wave, Psychedelic, Proto-punk etc. Musical tastes: I do not like most modern pop, metal, hard rock, punk, country, rap, and R&B. I listen to very specific artists in all those categories but I wouldn’t go there. Modern music I like would mostly fall under indie rock. I love all kinds of weird genres from the past and discovering new ones. Any other judging notes: Overly familiar songs will be down scored.
Edit: To be clear, it’s not meant to be songs about dreams.
Category host name: Canadamatt3004 Category: Female fronted rock groups Musical tastes: Check out my prior Walrus for some ideas. I am looking mostly for non radio play singles, since I know most of that shit. Prefer more recent to older since it’s hard to find chick rock from the 60s and 70s I’m not familiar with. Any other judging notes: Sticking to rock for this category obviously. For sure there are some great groups fronted by females in other genres, but that’s not what I’m looking for here. Also female fronted doesnt mean the lead has to be solely female. If the band has a male singer as well that’s fine but the lead vocals should be primarily female led.
Category: A song that hypes you up. It can be one that gets your adrenaline flowing, a work-out song, something that gets you dancing etc.
Musical tastes: I mainly listen to rock and metal (from vanilla to extreme) and their siblings, cousins and bastards. I also listen to pop, hip-hop, some classic, a tiny bit of opera and I can generally find something I like in most genres.
Basically no-hoper genres: hardcore techno/gabber, Operetta
Dubious genres: Electronic, Jazz, country/western, disco, RNB
I listen to a lot of stuff, so just about everything else is in with a shot.
Any other judging notes: I previously judged a Walrus and you can find the reveal thread here:
Warning: This time I will judge very well-known songs much more harshly.
