WALRUS (congrats to the winners / go join heltris walrus)

[schadd_]

Spoiler: how good is schadd at guessing who submitted the song?

also this was the cat where i felt strongest about my guesses. like i thought hmm what if this is the time i got everyone right. Anyway. thanks for makin this :)!

[schadd_]

cat 7 reveal

Spoiler: 1st: pj (this is a grand slam and also a score record)

casiopea - time limit

eeby: 6.8 [4.9/5]
deeby: 3.3
ooba: 0.8
scuba: hb
cuba: pj
1st place: 2.0

12.9

ok so like not to be too much of a drum liker on main but ughuguhhh hghghgh hhgod holy shittttt. fuuuuck

this is one of those ones where i almost want to take points away from the catfit because every aspect of this is also so good, but this really really is a drum song. not only are the drums the only instrument that's there the whole time, they're sort of grounded positionally - a lot of the brass and stuff will sort of be left-panned or right panned, but the drums feel like they're in the bottom and the middle, like you're there in the cockpit.

there's like, no tricks or shortcuts with it at all, the drummer just has endless shit up their sleeve that just makes it so that each moment has an exciting and novel rhythmic identity, building up the sort of characteristic jazzy song identity where each moment pounces on you & you end up in this confounded and excited stupor. i feel like pointing out any particular moment would be a mistake here, but i'll at least draw attention to the very first moments where the kick / snare hits are placed ambiguously with respect to the rhythm, adding to the construction where each new note of the brass (synchronized with the snare hit) feels like it's coming out of left field.

there's also just a razor-thinness of the whole performance, especially with regards to the trimming-off of open hi-hat tones (one of the things i specifically called for in the OP of the thread) that makes everything feel really deliberate and densely-packed

i will minjaephobically award 0.3 provisional catfit bonus points to anyone else who might have submitted this just because it's just spot on with, like, pretty much every possible thing that i've been liking about drums lately. hb in particular just, like, already knows the sort of drum things i like with too much specifics for it to be fair. i dont know who else would have came up with this though. evil fleetwood mac - i hope i'm wrong

Spoiler: 2nd: hb

和楽器バンド 天樂

eeby: 6.0 [4.5/5]
deeby: 2.4
ooba: 0.8
scuba: sirius
cuba: hell books
2nd place: 1.5

10.7

the very beginning sounds like matana roberts rise. this like bangs so hard. it's hard to find a moment where the drums aren't overshadowed by something, but they are generally quite good - oftentimes they are cooperating with guitar/bass to keep up the constant buckwild metal-y energy. also quite wide-ranging - can hear a lot of different segments of drum (or the conga? drum sound) getting used moment to moment to dramatically build up different moods. also a few great moments where there's like several moments of the guitarist jamming which are punctuated by silence except for the kick drum, which is such an exciting effect. awarding an additional 0.1 catfit point for the "swah!!" at the end which i have to assume is the voice of the drummer. going with sirius here just because the video said vocaloid (i have no idea what would merit that descriptor here), even though this doesnt really sound like the sound profile of his other subs

Spoiler: 3rd: sirius

歌ってみた - 千本桜

eeby: 5.8 [4.4/5]
deeby: 2.4
ooba: 0.8
scuba: PJ
cuba: sirius
3rd place: 1.0

10.0

this is a sort of drum machinery that i really respect, where it's actually thoroughly composed at each moment rather than just repeated a constructed pattern, as well as making use of the sorts of insane speed/energy which is really only able to be produced digitally (i would single out the rapid-fire kick drums as a super dope adrenaline injection in so many instances). plus it sounds like there was a physical taiko used later on which was a pretty dope moment. entertaining song throughout. One has to appreciate a good key change even if its just for like 10 seconds (though i'd say that time frame has like 15 or more seconds worth of song in it). sifting PJ out of the pool here bc the vocalist sounds like vocalists he likes

Spoiler: 4th: mushshagana

xploding plastix - more powah to yah

eeby: 5.6 [4.3/5]
deeby: 2.6
ooba: 0.8
scuba: mushshagana
cuba: MSGN -0.1

8.9

great example of a song where a lot of the rhythmic character comes from the drums, which is like exactly what they're good at. the moments that are just steady low-string (and/or bassoon???) melodies feel so active and tense just because the drum launders in so much energy. huge fan of the expression of the drum itself, evocative of old american big band jazz/swing where a lot of value comes from just a pap-pap-pap rhythm. the song just keeps your feet moving the whole time and doesn't get stale. the "more powah to yah" interlude is really great - seeing the phrase in the title of the song makes me think of a gruff wrestler-catchphrase sort of voice, which gets tossed up in the air. going with mushshagana purely for the name of the song here.

Spoiler: 5th: jun

still woozy - lava

eeby: 5.8 [4.4/5]
deeby: 1.8
ooba: 0.8
scuba: jun
cuba: jun. -0.1

8.3

definitely sounds like a drum machine here, has the feel of the one video of the european looking guy nodding at his screen and clicking the drum buttons on his synth. But its good! its a subtle & thin supporting sort of drum which works well a lot of the time that it's there. there's like sharp moments of rhythmic redirection, that sort of add to the huge and perplexing shape of the song at large. moreover the drum machine nature of it isn't so bothersome - i think the choices of patches (or whatever youd call them) are good, there's a very slight sound of open hi-hat which is a little bit uncanny when its the same every time But its a good sound. the sshpap thing at 2:00 is quite surprising and good. the "you never leave my mind" vocal harmony is probably the single strongest thing going on here.

Spoiler: tied 6th: ariel

phil collins - two worlds

eeby: 5.6 [4.3/5]
deeby: 1.7
ooba: 0.7
scuba: davsto
cuba: ariel !

8.0

just quite pleased by the fact of this submission - there's a fairy tale quality of (presumably) davsto seeing this category and deciding to submit phil collins.... But Not What Youd Expect! that said i'm slightly torn on the drums themselves - at the level of arrangement, they are a pretty brilliant way of infusing a bunch of raw energy into the grand-orchestra style of disney music, and it's really something to hear. but i think the execution is a little bit shallow - to me it sounds like there are expressive musicians playing the drums, who are sort of relegated into the background of the rhythmic structure, so that you mostly just hear a basic thump... thump... from that section. there are a couple of great moments where they're more in focus, like the sort of polyrhythm thing going on around 2:20. again, there's just an undeniable radiant energy of the song at large, its good.

Spoiler: tied 6th: chickdee

warpaint - so good

eeby: 5.6 [4.3/5]
deeby: 1.6
ooba: 0.8
scuba: ariel
cuba: chickdee

8.0

the drums are enjoyable here, like the beat is really thick in a good way, but it's synthetic and mostly stagnant, which are two sticking points i'll have in this cat (most of what matters is the 2nd one. synthetic is generally fine). that said there are plenty of little moments of articulation that help it a lot. certain moments hear the sound of the hi-hat sort of proliferating, like a pot boiling over from the heat of the moment. plus the moments where it reorients into this weird lo-fi conga drum, or even just the thump.. thump.. thump.. section are great, engaging. vocal harmony is great, especially with "i'll tell you all mine", a neat wobbly shape. if i'm right about this being ariel i'm happy to see them breach the 8.0 mark even in spite of the -.1 point

Spoiler: tied 8th: skrewba

final fanty - garudas theme

eeby: 5.4 [4.2/5]
deeby: 1.7
ooba: 0.7
scuba: skrewba
cuba: skrewba -0.1

7.7

ok, there's actually drums in this. it seemed like you were indicating that there wasn't gonna be drums. this is pretty dope actually. the drums are often quite quiet compared to the whole but they do a lot of the stuff i like - the tense hi hat which is sort of its baseline behavior is really good (opening and closing hi hat is like a named and shamed good drum trait for me). i guess it just spends a lot of time struggling to play a big part in the whole (and the complete product has some of the epic video game kitsch that most of the final fantasies have)

Spoiler: tied 8th: chevy

the sheepdogs - take a trip

eeby: 5.2 [4.1/5]
deeby: 1.7
ooba: 0.8
scuba: shafty
cuba: chevy

7.7

i found me a hopeless case...

its like so funny to me how much of a nothing burger the lyrics are with this one. it sounds like it was recorded in a phone, which i will take as an indicator that this is just the first draft / placeholder for the lyrics that the vocalist made while out for a walk. i would say the drums are perfectly functional in service of an epic blues rock whole - often working in tandem with the epic blues rock guitar riff to produce a constant moderately-banging energy. its also got that led zeppelin cavernously-resonant snare drum sound that i simply have no choice but to like. not super inspired, ultimately. (or maybe, like, too inspired. lol)

Spoiler: tied 8th: cheeto

badbadnotgood - triangle

eeby: 5.2 [4.1/5]
deeby: 1.9
ooba: 0.7
scuba: cheetory SEVEN!!!!!!
cuba: cleato -0.1

7.7


the drumming checks a lot of my boxes - it takes a really active stance in shaping the feel & energy, and i like its tone (the cymbals feel really chilly) and things like the gradual hi-hat opening around 1:20. but further than that it's not all that engaging to me - would be hard to place why that is exactly. i wanna say it has a slight lo-fi filter, which doesn't do a great service. there's this faint blandness in the melodies as well. really into the big chorus-like moment at e.g. 2:40, where there's 2 kick drum hits and the rest of the instruments just thwack in like a ton of bricks.

Spoiler: tied 11th: tris

serial experiments lain OST - hitori bocchi 2

eeby: 5.2 [4.2/5]
deeby: 1.6
ooba: 0.8
scuba: tris
cuba: tris -.1

7.5

this was tris's intended entry for cat 6 and will be graded as such. this is another one like the sleepykrew entry which gets most of its strength from a thematic establishment of a place. i would say that this one is kiind of lacking the immediate vividity though which is the thing that i came to expect from a strong entry in that cat. its really just the 'tshh....' effect and the quiet little synth pad which feels like it's winding around a hallway or the curvature of the room. it is evocative though - i get a clear feeling from it that there's some sort of something going on, and that sort of baseline mind activity is strong at getting me to try to visually parse it out. neat little submission.

Spoiler: tied 11th: shafto

dci - blue devils

eeby: 4.6 [3.8/5]
deeby: 2.1
ooba: 0.8
scuba: N
cuba: shafty

7.5

feel like this should end up in the vicinity of 2/3 catfit just by virtue of only being drums (and being at least pretty interesting), but i'm not inspired to go all that much higher than that. i think the most interesting thing here is the trills, and the sort of voice that emerges from the coordination of the slightly different drum tunings - really engaging effect. and otherwise the musicianship is impressive, squeezing all the intrigue you can get out of the form. but also, like, this drumming style has a bit of a stench for me, like its the sort of thing that only happens at football games and in the army and whatever. appreciate the submission though.

Spoiler: tied 11th: gbails

siekiera - na zewnątrz

eeby: 5.0 [4.0/5]
deeby: 1.7
ooba: 0.9
scuba: georgebailey
cuba: gb -0.1

7.5

it's funny every time where there's like a big snare drum buildup which culminates in the drums just evaporating. this song doesn't do anything!!!!! lol!!!!! its good tho!!!! the basic pattern is really catchy, thumpathumpa tap-tap thumpathumpathumpathumpathumpa. but like it just doesn't give me a lot to work with. they carved out so much time for this little thing.

Spoiler: 14th: N

hayley mary - chemtrails over the country club (cover)

eeby: 5.4 [4.2/5]
deeby: 1.1
ooba: 0.7
scuba: chevy
cuba: N

7.2

i guess the drums are just not big enough of a component of the character for this to be a big win. they're a good bit meatier than i would expect for anything directly under the lana del rey byline (and a lot of pop in general) which is great, but it's mostly the same sort of pattern for the whole thing & not very focal. i'm quite into the singing here - the lead vocalist is wickedly flavorful (particularly apparent at moments where she has most of the spotlight e.g. around 1:15) and the backing vocalists are on point. putting chev here because a cover of lana del rey by someone who isn't lana del rey just makes me think of him. also, while the video went live before the original submission deadline, chevy had more of an opportunity to find it

Spoiler: 15th: davy

blondie - union city blue

eeby: 4.0 [3.5/5]
deeby: 1.2
ooba: 0.7
scuba: cdee
cuba: davsto

5.9

the drums are mixed pretty low which is kind of a killer here. like i think the drummer is perfectly competent here but they're done so dirty by the construction of the song, it's sort of a vocal-focused pop song and so the drums in particular have to be mixed pretty low and have little space to set the tone. though, in the mick fleetwood style, they're doing as much as they can with the space they have - there's several moments where the energy gets ramped up by some key tom tom hits and the like. if this is chickadee's, shes on the path towards getting the gold medal for standard deviation

podium town welcomes two more citizens!

[schadd_]

if i had to like blindly throw out a term for your songs it would be post-industrial (probably minus the ed rush one). or just generally, like, "core". it's mostly a contrast with the rest of the group.

so like you'll probably get pissed at me for getting this last one right. in particular it was pretty much a wild guess - i just saw the name xploding plastix and thought it was gonna be, like, metal, and then it wasn't, but i just like didnt move past my first impression. also poe here: i could have just as easily picked cheeto for this - you described it as jazz idm played by humans, which is apt, and also strongly describes something he would like (and did like). but i knew he likes badbadnotgood

[shaft.ed]

I was very tempted to use my oldie status to troll everyone into listen to some Dave Mathews Band because Carter Beauford is ridiculous and he should be appreciated


I went with something that wouldn't be represented. I played bass for three years in HS, and theres something that can't really be described about playing in a bass drum line. The feeling of 5 people playing one instrument is just so amazingwhen it gels. It's almost an out of body experience. I cannot imagine how sweet it would be to pull off some of the riffs in this piece. I really wish this hadn't been recorded on a camcorder.

this drumming style has a bit of a stench for me, like its the sort of thing that only happens at football games and in the army and whatever

If you haven't watched any drum corps shows, they have some beautiful music and amazing visuals. It's a shame to lump them into football and jingoism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ09RF_Axpk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6gykBbG5Vc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECUpJuUeAQ

excited to listen to the rest of the entries, I like a good drum. I think it was the middle of the third song last night I heard the sound of water splashing and though "that's an odd acoustic choice for this song". But it was instead water sloshing out of my kitchen sink drain onto the floor.

[Chevre]

if i had to like blindly throw out a term for your songs it would be post-industrial (probably minus the ed rush one). or just generally, like, "core". it's mostly a contrast with the rest of the group.

so like you'll probably get pissed at me for getting this last one right. in particular it was pretty much a wild guess - i just saw the name xploding plastix and thought it was gonna be, like, metal, and then it wasn't, but i just like didnt move past my first impression. also poe here: i could have just as easily picked cheeto for this - you described it as jazz idm played by humans, which is apt, and also strongly describes something he would like (and did like). but i knew he likes badbadnotgood

Yeah. I was gonna say MUSHSHAGANA's really stand out because they always contrasted with the rest of the group, but this group was definitely one where she could've snuck by.

[PJ.]

Carter Beauford is incredible, ya. Too bad his band is bad.

[MUSHSHAGANA]

if i had to like blindly throw out a term for your songs it would be post-industrial (probably minus the ed rush one). or just generally, like, "core". it's mostly a contrast with the rest of the group.

so like you'll probably get pissed at me for getting this last one right. in particular it was pretty much a wild guess - i just saw the name xploding plastix and thought it was gonna be, like, metal, and then it wasn't, but i just like didnt move past my first impression. also poe here: i could have just as easily picked cheeto for this - you described it as jazz idm played by humans, which is apt, and also strongly describes something he would like (and did like). but i knew he likes badbadnotgood

Not pissed, just flabbergasted. I never thought of my music taste as being this identifiable. Even though admittedly I've mostly picked stuff in my recent rotation for this particular thing, there's stuff people I know would throw me out the window for and stuff they'd obsess over in about equal measure, and I tend to find that to be a fairly reliable indicator of variety.

I will FIGHT about post-industrial though -- the only thing you can put that evil* on is Cuneiform, and only at a stretch (it's more coming from classic 80s synthpop (e.g. Erasure) and nu-shoegaze (e.g. A Place To Bury Strangers) than say, NIN). Everything else belongs to a totally different genre.



*How the hell did you figure out I like stupid goth stomp oontz bullshit, I didn't even include any, I could cry


EDIT: If you do this again I will need to dig REAL deep. Fortunately, my external harddrive with my giant music library on it will be arriving today, and I will be prepared to throw out the wildest crap.

[shaft.ed]

I'm surprised the scubas decreased this round
I figured by now everyone's style would be figured out

tris was free too due to cat mixup, so this was a historically low rate

[Cheetory6]

also strongly describes something he would like (and did like

this album is super wicked btw.

[schadd_]

whoever submitted this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcO67G34Yw

the link went down and i don't have a way of finding out what it's supposed to be. so send a PM to hellbooks with a new link (if you don't remember what the song was, thats fine, you can just cough up a new submission) and she will send it to me. if the song is hellbooks' then she can just simply send it to me directly and i will be none the wiser

[shaft.ed]

it definitely wasn't me

Spoiler: or was it?

[schadd_]

whoever submitted this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcO67G34Yw

the link went down and i don't have a way of finding out what it's supposed to be. so send a PM to hellbooks with a new link (if you don't remember what the song was, thats fine, you can just cough up a new submission) and she will send it to me. if the song is hellbooks' then she can just simply send it to me directly and i will be none the wiser

thanks for getting back to me promptly. if you send me something else tomorrow i will probably still be able to judge it as well

it definitely wasn't me

Spoiler: or was it?

laffed

[SleepyKrew]

thanks for getting back to me promptly.

no problem!

[Cheetory6]

no problem!

oops sorry posted this on my alt

[SleepyKrew]

oops sorry

no problem!

[schadd_]

think i forgot to put it down anywhere: reveal tmrw in (expired on 2021-04-25 14:00:00)

[schadd_]

40 minutes !

[Ariel]

Spoiler: how well can schadd guess who submitted the song?, pt. 2

[schadd_]

WELCOME TO CATEGORY 8 !!!

Spoiler: 1st place PLUS grand slam PLUS being tris: tris

marika hackman - undone, undress

Cathe Friedrich: 6.6 [4.8/5]
Sigourney Weaver: 0.7
Toni Morrison: tris -0.1
Laura Agustin: tris
Naomi Watts: 3
1st place: 2.0

12.2

hoo boy what a song. first of all our girl marika was doomed to success here just because of how wildly physically evocative her music was. like she could make a song about enjoying the taste of citrus and i'd find myself feverishly scanning my pantry for oranges. the song is comprised of sluggish and shallow movements - the droning organ & mysterious gaseous instrument, as well as the melodies which are frequently just half step motions (something you usually hear in a fast and elaborate jazzy melody, which makes the context here interesting). the atmosphere is so suffocating that even when a thick snare drum cuts through it, a sound which should be a jostle to wakeness, it feels more like a last-ditch effort towards movement, or the rip of a headache and the crack of a bone. this is all to dance around, of course, the bone-dry fact of this woman's lyrics. she has quite simply been alive for a hundred million years. the stuff that desirelessly drips out of her mouth is plainly beyond weariness - "load me heavy i can't bend / break me better so i won't mend" makes my head weigh 50 pounds.

the whole thing is just so gorgeous. the little pieces of extra shape that are sometimes added to the focal melody have the feeling of a perfect and delicate brushstroke that singularly gives way to the spitting image of the terrain. im glad that she got to sleep at last after the whole deal is over

i did already listen to this album, and i liked it a lot. this happened about a week before the epic submission deadline, so i shall declare this to be a 0.7 unfamiliarity points.

Spoiler: 2nd place: mushshagana

gnaw - rat

Cathe Friedrich: 1.9
how much am i in love with the name + artist combo: a lot +0.1
Sigourney Weaver: musha -0.1
Toni Morrison: 6.6 [4.8/5]
Laura Agustin: 0.8
Naomi Watts: musha
2nd place: 1.5

10.8

i suspect that this isnt one of the ones that was supposed to sneak past me. i wondered what sort of thing we were gonna get from her, and as usual the song has an interesting (and kind of oblique) catfit but is mostly just really good and cool. this one has to be the highlight as far as good and coolness, i'm in love with so many of the choices made in it. everything is so tense, the instrumental choices really give a strong and direct feeling of a hostile environment - the bass riff that induces a loud beating sound, which feels like rusty slabs of metal deteriorating as they grind against each other; and of course the jarring guitar which feels like the near-miss of a speeding car. and of course multiple other production pieces that constantly feel on edge. and of course the vocalist is soooooo good, you can hear the bulging neck tendons in their voice at each moment.

while it's hard to describe this as lacking in energy at, really, any moment, the landscape of the song shows off a condition that gives rise to a sort of extreme wear and tear and insomnia. even just listening to it one feels their muscles tense & their spine try to keep everything moving and wiggling.

strong equity for being one of the many mushshagana songs that minjae saves instantly.

additional note: the 0.1 points for gnaw rat wasn't supposed to be a tiebreaker but it ended up doing that job

Spoiler: 3rd place: chevo

bill calahan - the mackenzies

Cathe Friedrich: chevy!
Sigourney Weaver: 5.7 [4.3 wd/5]
Toni Morrison: 2.8
Laura Agustin: 0.8
Naomi Watts: chevy -.1
3rd place: 1.0

10.2

this dude sounds like a combination of sun kil moon and the san fermin baritone guy. also he's on joanna newsom's label - my submitter guess is made on principle. i find the storytelling super engaging here, and tiredness seems to be something of a motif in it. the players in the story are all, like, in late stages of wear and tear - the vocalist has grown anxious around people and subtly seems pretty desperate for connection, as well as beset by family obligation, and the other couple has an ||indefinitely empty nest||. the construction of the song reflects a feeling of difficulty in seeing anything change, a lot of inertia - the vocalist drags through the verses slowly (great tool for getting me to be able to follow and understand your song) and the guitar feels just the slightest bit chipper in a way that communicates a sort of resignation. obviously the moment where he falls asleep is something that seals the deal. great sub, and great example of a song where this, like, vector of analysis which is given to me by the category, is something that helps me get into it more clearly

Spoiler: 4th place: jun

daniel caesar - complexities

Cathe Friedrich: 5.6 [4.3/5]
Sigourney Weaver: 0.7
Toni Morrison: 2.6
Laura Agustin: jun
Naomi Watts: jun -.1

8.8

this is pretty obviously a great song for the cat, i think it's really really helped by how spacious it is. two massive weariness vectors are the extent to which you can hear the low synth-bass thingy slowly grind out into decay with each note, and the fact that daniel caesar is kind of doing his usual sorta romantic voice, which at so many moments fails to command a whole lot of energy, rather just crackling out like the wick of a starved candle. there's also just a lot of interesting developmence in this song, quiet synths & guitar, some really breathy and low wind instruments sounding like a gentle breeze which is felt keenly. wait jacob collier and brandy are on this album thats so funny. i think jun might know their way around being tired.

Spoiler: 5th place: JJ

speedy ortiz - no below

Cathe Friedrich: 0.7
Sigourney Weaver: 2.4
Toni Morrison: georgebailey ??
Laura Agustin: PJ
Naomi Watts: 5.4 [4.2/5]

8.5

a primogenitor of Indie Girl Voice! like with "everybody tea-ysed" at 0:20. whoever submitted this might like soccer mommy, i thot color theory from her in 2020 was really good. a lot of lifelike choices in this song - i like the guitar that imitates the vocalist in the choruses, adding an extra layer to a sort of drooling despondent feeling at the moment where the last note just hangs until the next iteration of the phrase. the drums feel like they're barely plodding out their pattern in spite of physical exertion. the story is of two people hanging onto each other for dear life, making clear the extensive weight of the world that they are pushing up against. its good !

Spoiler: 6th place: chickadee !

múm - we have a map of the piano

Cathe Friedrich: chickadee!!!!!
Sigourney Weaver: 5.4 [4.2/5]
Toni Morrison: cheebory
Laura Agustin: 2.1
Naomi Watts: 0.7

8.2

hilariously cheeto told me to listen to this shortly before the onset of the walrus, which makes me wonder if this is tris and the ****** ******* song is somebody else. i'll give it 0.7 points as a sort of compromise since i'm perfectly happy to have a reason to take a closer reading of it. at that, the idea of the cat is making me hear this differently - initially i had interpreted the vocalist to have a wide-eyed understated wonder, but this time it sounds equally interpretable as more of a droopy-eyed rumination. there's a pretty constant feeling of forward propulsion, but the melodies are pretty wistful, giving the feeling of just watching a bunch of things pass one by - backed up by the "please don't go so fast" refrain.

Spoiler: 7th place: cleabto

disco elysium - burn baby burn

Cathe Friedrich: 1.7
Sigourney Weaver: 5.4 [4.2/5]
Toni Morrison: PJ ???
Laura Agustin: cleabory
Naomi Watts: 0.8

7.9

there's a lot that interests me about this game and i will surely never play it because i understand that it's like 69 gigglebytes and i need all that space on my computer for pictures of fka twigs. at some moments this falls into the snag that a couple other subs did, which is that it feels like a deliberate lowness of energy rather than a lack of it, but there's also this atmosphere of withering away and rumination on things people are unable to have. vocal harmony is good quite often.

Spoiler: 8th place: healbooks

tenniscoats - sappolondon

Cathe Friedrich: 5.6 [4.3/5]
Sigourney Weaver: hellbooks -0.1
Toni Morrison: hellbooks
Laura Agustin: 0.7
Naomi Watts: 1.6

7.8

i have come to know that this is minjaes entry. i listened to this album in response to her liking it. normally it would occur to give this a 0.4 or 0.5 unfamiliarity due to having listened to this once, but i'm relaxing that since i became familiar after the walrus started (i wonder if i've been like perfectly consistent with that standard. lol). however, i will evilly dock 0.1 points since tenniscoats has already been submitted (i do not plan to be consistent with this standard). i will also evilly not make any other comments on this song since i have, by the end of this sentence, written the 4 lines of notepad text which is my touchstone for being close enough to done. this was also written before listening and considering it

Spoiler: 9th place: ariel

tanita tikram - twist in my sobriety

Cathe Friedrich: 1.4
Sigourney Weaver: 0.7
Toni Morrison: chickdee
Laura Agustin: 5.2 [4.1/5]
Naomi Watts: ariel

7.3

interesting thing going on here. so first of all theres this fun thing where the title of the song doesnt really make sense out of context. and like the vocalist just kind of states it at one point and doesnt elaborate. but it makes sense then. the language in this is rly interesting (especially in the context of this being some kind of epic pop song) and it's where most of the points come from - it seems like the singer is going through their disillusionment with all sorts of things, and detailing how they are drained by their relationship with the addressed person, in a pretty evocative way. but the rest of the construction of the song sort of has a consistent foreboding feeling, and other than being pretty low-to-the-ground i wouldn't really say that its very low energy. neat submission.

Spoiler: 10th place: georgie B

low - la la song

Cathe Friedrich: 0.5
Sigourney Weaver: 4.8 [3.9/5]
Toni Morrison: 1.5
Laura Agustin: shafty
Naomi Watts: george bailey !!

6.8

this is the first of several songs which will make me think really hard about how many unfamiliarity points i give it. i would credit low as one of my very favorite bands, but 90% of that boils down to one album they released in 2018, and there's a lot of ways that their stripped-down earlier act is more foreign to me - i havent listened to this album for instance (though i listened to 3 or 4 of the other ones from around that time and they're quite good). this is an interesting pick from there - it has their characteristic low energy level, but the feeling evoked to me is more of a deliberate and comfortable low energy rather than a tiredness. the bass drum thump in particular has the feeling of a sturdy stance with a low center of mass. but, the lyrics bridge the gap a fair amount.

Spoiler: 11th: shafty

stereolab - how to play your internal organs overnight

Cathe Friedrich: ariel ???
Sigourney Weaver: 5.2 [4.1/5]
Toni Morrison: 0.7
Laura Agustin: 0.8
Naomi Watts: shafty!

6.7

neat song. i would struggle to name anything that makes a feeling of tiredness exist in this, though i would say that it's there distantly - maybe it's sort of evocative of the feeling of just existing half-awake in bed for a while. the strings are what's doing most of the work for me here, they're very good. also the old casio-sounding drum machine is funny as it usually is.

Spoiler: 12th: davsto

flaming L's - slow nerve action

Cathe Friedrich: 4.8 [3.9/5]
Sigourney Weaver: 0.7
Toni Morrison: davsto -0.1
Laura Agustin: davsto?
Naomi Watts: 1.2

6.6

the story being told by the vocalist is weary and lamentative, and oftentimes delivered in a noticeably quiet and desireless sort of way. other than that i kind of struggle to see it - maybe there's an extent to which the guitar riffs are droopy and lazy, and they're only as loud as they are because of the machinery. similarly torn about the drums - they're laying it on thick, which could either be read as an intentional hard hit of the instrument, or maybe just somebody letting gravity help them out too much. it's just usually too well put-together for the feelings of clumsiness to win over, especially with things like a little chime sound that backs up the vocalist. guitar tone is rly interesting.

Spoiler: 13th place: sirius

morfonica - 深海少女

Cathe Friedrich: 5.2 [4.1/5]
Sigourney Weaver: 0.8
Toni Morrison: 0.2
provisional points for producing the extra link on short notice: 0.4
Laura Agustin: sirius 9121 1221 22921 -0.121
Naomi Watts: sirius9121

6.5

this is the song that had to be resubmitted, and i think it might have had to be a new song on the spot, so i'm giving a bit of extra points of padding in case that made it difficult to cough up a fitting song. in any case, finding it hard to pick out the tiredness here - sounds like a standard fare exciting sirius song, with maybe a couple quiter moments. the fiddle in particular does great work for building up energy and adding depth. this song is just fun, lol. a lot of quick interesting patterns in the drums too.

post note: it seems that tris is the one that sleuthed up the extra link - i'm leaving the 0.4 points here, i guess as insurance in case we ended up with the wrong link

Spoiler: 14th place: sleapy

final f - ishgard night theme

Cathe Friedrich: sleapy krew
Sigourney Weaver: 0.7
Toni Morrison: 4.4 [3.7/5]
Laura Agustin: 0.7
Naomi Watts:

5.8

catfit in that i'm TIRED of the final fancy songs lol lol I joke. i'm kidding. something that kind of holds the enjoyment points back is the way that it sometimes leans on a sort of sterile internet-era straight-to-spotify style of pop piano which i'm kind of TIRED of ahahaha. the song has a bit of a sleepy time feel at moments, but also has no trouble conjuring up big swirling segments of strings if it feels like it, which kind of puts a damper on things. well, like a reverse-damper on things. it doesnt feel all that physically tired is what i'm saying.

Spoiler: 15th place: N

jay foreman - pretend you're happy

Cathe Friedrich: 1.0
Sigourney Weaver: N -0.1
Toni Morrison: 0.8
Laura Agustin: N
Naomi Watts: 1.5 [1.5/5]

3.2

kind of a bummer. dont rly agree with the message here. very british. this has the world weariness pretty much locked down, though that was only part of what i was looking for and i dont think that the rest of the presentation gets at it very well either (in fact thats surely by design).

[schadd_]

Spoiler: how well can schadd guess who submitted the song?, pt. 2

there was no way i was getting on the board with regards to chickadee in that round bc the song which raised the eternal question of "is this tris or cheeto" (from a band that i know both of them like) was secretly hers

[schadd_]

horrible new game mechanic

until the reveal for CAT 2 (which will take place at the horrible hour of 8:30am my time on saturday, in (expired on 2021-05-01 08:30:00)), any player may choose to pay 0.3 of their own points to remove 0.2 points from another player of their choice. this will be carried out by saying: "

brigade: [name of player]

" in bold in this thread. each player may do this up to once.

[SleepyKrew]

dang I really thought the way my song conjured up some energy and tried to build to something but couldn't find anything to build to so it unceremoniously went back to being sleepy was more tired than if it stayed tired the whole time

[shaft.ed]

Spoiler: brigade schadd

[shaft.ed]

so if me and dav had submitted the same song, but with different links, would you have to get the links correct?

[tris]

Spoiler: how well can schadd guess who submitted the song?, pt. 2

there was no way i was getting on the board with regards to chickadee in that round bc the song which raised the eternal question of "is this tris or cheeto" (from a band that i know both of them like) was secretly hers

i must have forgotten that i know that band