Song Contest 153 (Results posted!)

[Scigatt]

I'm doing it.

I'm entering a non-English track.

Watch me get cut.

[Tatsuya Kaname]

Oh hi, here's me submitting song at deadline again.

[Song Contest]

Entries posted!

[Tatsuya Kaname]

F.

Well, I think I would have to expand my artist shelf anyway.

@Host, copy my entry for next one.

Also WHO THE FRICK SUMBITS FIELD OF NOPES AND MEMES?

[Song Contest]

@Host, copy my entry for next one.

Done!

[Errantparabola]

did i get cut

copy me for next one too ty : )

[Errantparabola]

unless u dont want me in song contest anymore.... jeez... gettin cut all the time u know i can take a hint

[Equinox]

August 4? Oh, boy.

[Tammy]

Yep, expected the cut.

[Song Contest]

copy me for next one too ty : )

Done!

unless u dont want me in song contest anymore.... jeez... gettin cut all the time u know i can take a hint

Random.org is sometimes very, very cruel.

[Scigatt]

Did a cursory listen to the entries. It was chill except when it wasn't.

[Tammy]

unless u dont want me in song contest anymore.... jeez... gettin cut all the time u know i can take a hint

the last time we had cuts, i think I was cut almost every time I was eligible. I'd basically just enter so that I had a guaranteed in next time.

[AGar]

Kinda glad I was cut, wasn’t thrilled with my entry anyway. No need to copy mine for next contest, I’ll likely submit something else.

[Untrod Tripod]

hi ep et al! excited to win my first contest back

eyyyyy it's my first contest back too

I remember generally liking your entries so I'm glad you're back

[Untrod Tripod]

whoever submitted Norway, I found a studio version of that song and it is also very good

[The Bulge]

<3 glad to see you're still around!

whoever submitted Norway, I found a studio version of that song and it is also very good

I need this. live music has very little replay value to me. that being said, solid choice imo to submit the live recording here because that was some seriously intoxicating shit.

[PJ.]

I forgot to submit for secret vgm contest, whoops

[Hiraki]

Yeah, what's up with that? I was actually debating posting a RWBY intro song only because I think it's kickass. Maybe in a few contests.

[Vi]

Did a cursory listen to the entries. It was chill except when it wasn't.

Spoiler: thoughts after first pass

This, but in a bad way. This is probably the weakest contest since December, and I acknowledge my entry is part of the problem. I'll do a second pass to refine rankings but I'm not looking forward to it.

[The Bulge]

Spoiler: review blurbs

The Netherlands (Sven Wunder) - The tempo change a minute in was a little jarring the first time around, but upon relistening I think it could just be a tiny bit smoother. Otherwise this track is a fun listen that's always doing something new melodically.

Mid points.

Isle of Man (All Time Low) - At least it's Billie Joe-esque pop punk vocals and not Mark Hoppus pop punk. Some good melodies here and there but nothing too creative. How was this released this year?

No points.

Norway (KEiiNO) - Chills on first listen as soon as the Te Hau Tawhiti feature came on, and then those first couple guitar chords mmm and it keeps getting better. Both rap verses, although short, were captivating as hell with incredible vocal performances from both of them as well. I could say the soaring chorus is like crack but I could equally say the same for so many parts of this record.

High points.

Latvia (Shinji Hosoe) - Good OST music, I can see this adding a lot to a game with a cyber-dystopic setting.

Low points.

Estonia (CombatPlayer) - Cool, but that's about all I have to say about it.

No points.

Hinamizawa (CunninLynguists) - I've had these guys recommended to me before, but I feel like a song where they both get washed by the featured artist is not a great introduction. The beat and the hook were great but I'm not a fan of the first two verses.

Low points.

Ankh-Morpork (Therapy?) - Messy composition, stock lyrics, this stinks!

Flavortown (ERRA) - The transitions in this song are well-executed and the vocals seem well-performed (granted I know very little about screamed/growled vocals), but I can't get into it.

No points.

Seleucid Kingdom (Camila Cabello) - Best thing I can say about this is that the lyrics are comically vague. The instrumental is the same as every other reminiscent pop ballad since 2005, and I can't stand that weird thing Camila always does to her vowels.

No points.

France (Hua Chen Yu) - The first minute had my attention but I completely lost interest when the vocals came in.

No points.

Anguilla (ROSALÍA) - Easily one of my favourite albums of the past couple years. El Guincho delivers an ultra-crisp, three-dimensional flamenco pop soundscape start to finish, and Rosalía's voice is immaculate as always. Give the album "El Mal Querer" a shot if you enjoyed the song, Rosalía is one of the most exciting new artists out now.

Llanowar (FamilyJules) - Interesting, catchy, easy appeal but it's nothing special.

Low points.

Nepal (Haruka Shimotsuki) - There was nothing nearly interesting enough going on to justify maintaining that level of volume and intensity for almost an entire 5 minute song. No swells or buildups or key changes made this an extremely difficult listen.

No points.

Ireland (Sidney Gish) - I love the rawness of her voice. Reminds me of a less grating Kimya Dawson. This has a nice fun charming chorus, and I like the sample near the end.

Mid points.

USA (Mick Gordon) - Neat sound palette on this one. Very effective high-energy song.

Low points.

Monaco (Avicii) - Copy-paste EDM breaks. The vocals sound intentionally uninspired. It's an Avicii song!

No points.

Iraq (CHON) - Light-hearted and super groovy. I'm hoping they have some somewhat more complex work in their catalogue.

High points.

New Zealand (Kodaline) - I was falling asleep for half of this and the guitar beating in the second half hurts my head.

No points.

Central African Republic (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel) - This is a fun recording. Something captivating about his delivery.

Mid points.

Poland (Saint Motel) - This gave everything it had to offer in the first minute and ten seconds. Promising start, but definitely disappointed.

Low points.

Armenia (Kovacs) - The mix has a nice blend of classic and modern sound. I will say the obvious Amy Whinehouse parallels are distracting at times. But nothing interesting or original was accomplished here.

No points.

The Underground (Toby Fox) - Impossibly annoying.

No points.

Chad (Imminence) - Usually not my style in the least bit, but I found myself enjoying this start to finish. The snippet at the end as well makes me want to check out more of them.

High points.

Niger (Bombino) - Okay but far too long.

Low points.

Indonesia (J Dilla) - Donuts is a classic, one of the easiest listens of all time, and this is undeniably a highlight of the album.

High points.

Canada (American Football) - I feel no strong ways at all one way or another about this song.

No points.

[PJ.]

Isle of Man (All Time Low) - At least it's Billie Joe-esque pop punk vocals and not Mark Hoppus pop punk. Some good melodies here and there but nothing too creative. How was this released this year? No points.

so...i hate the bulge. cool.

[The Bulge]

so...i hate the bulge. cool.

I missed the bulge.

the bulge makes us all feel some kinda way

[Vi]

I've finished my second pass.

Spoiler: and I am not happy about it (NSFP)

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TIER: POINTS

(12) HINAMIZAWA -- CunninLynguists {Enemies with Benefits F. Tonedeff}

-- This backing sound would be sweet on its own. It's an unusual sound to my ears but I kind of like it. I don't like the lyrics except I kind of think they're hilarious and honestly that's what pushed it into this spot. Probably the second-weakest 12 I've given in 19 contests but it's still a 12.

(10) MONACO -- Avicii {The Nights}

-- Well I can see why this guy thinks people who pop pills in Ibiza are cool. Damn it must be nice to be rich af. This is getting high points because it's the only competitive professional pop song in the entire batch and I'm going to have to live with being called normcore for it. Please don't vandalize nature.

(8) THE UNDERGROUND -- Toby Fox {Field of Hopes and Dreams}

-- So I've never played this game and I'm actually mostly unspoiled on it. I already know from Undertale that this guy has a very solid understanding of how to make VGMs with impact, and this delivers beyond most things in that game. As a standalone song I'm not on board with the B segment's tonal shift, but the A and C segments make up for it. It would probably be better if the sax synth in the C segment wasn't lo-fi.

(7) FRANCE -- 华晨宇 {荒野魂斗罗}

-- I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this but I got what I wanted out of it. It takes talent to pull something like this off. I'm not a huge fan of the chorus and would probably rather listen to these people in like a year as they sing something else, but this still slaps within its ambitions. It's a simple song but hell, these people did simple better than everyone else did their mess. Apparently being a whistling pro is the key to getting points out of me. lol backup singer doing the fight may not have been the best idea


TIER: POINTS?

(6) POLAND -- SAINT MOTEL {A Good Song Never Dies}

-- Wait, this isn't Vanilla Ice! This is one of the very few songs with a confirmed pulse in this contest, and while it's only okay - I really am not drawn to the vocal style in the chorus - that's enough in this contest. lol mouse cursor

(5) LATVIA -- Shinji Hosoe {Q}

-- Angry pig goes on shirt. Hey, wait, that's the character from iamausername's avatar. Wait, CHUNSOFT did the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, didn't they? Honestly even songs that are good for VNs are bad for Song Contests because the context has been removed. Still, I sorta guess this is better than the Lain infodump theme from a whole bunch of Contests back. Ultimately it's this high because it's unobtrusive background music that keeps a rhythm.

(4) ARMENIA -- Kovacs {50 Shades of Black}

-- This isn't really my style of vocals, but the background pulls a lot of weight to keep it going and interesting.

(3) NORWAY -- KEiiNO feat. Te Hau Tawhiti {Roar Like A Lion}

-- Considering that Alien Weaponry was submitted a while ago, the vocals caused some serious whiplash when they started. Honestly if the vocalists and lyrics were completely swapped out this would probably be really really good. As it is, it feels incredibly, painfully white if not white savior - and that's the last thing I wanted from someone who seems to do lots of collaborations with indigenous artists. I actually feel kind of dirty giving this points.

(2) FLAVORTOWN -- ERRA {Skyline}

-- The most sedate djent. Honestly if this stayed like the intro it would be in the next tier up. As it is this is at the top of the huge pile of insomnia cures in this Contest.

(1) THE NETHERLANDS -- Sven Wunder {Hibiscus}

-- I appreciate the idea. The drum set does a lot for it. It feels like it spends the entire run time moving toward a payoff and never reaches one, but it's still catchy enough to bob a head to.

ANKH-MORPORK -- Therapy? {Screamager}

-- It's rock. There's not really anything to distinguish it but at least that means it's not bad. Probably the best band name in the Contest.

ANGUILLA -- ROSALÍA {PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ}

-- ROSALÍA : Spanish :: Billie Eilish : English? It's not my vibe but I can respect it. Piss into me, Ra?


TIER: NO POINTS

CHAD -- Imminence {Infectious}

-- It's not a Chad entry without some kind of violence. I like the sound this is going for but the vocals are too uncontrolled for it to hold together. The intro goes on for quite the while. Incredible that this is one of the few entries in this Contest that prominently features an electric guitar.

USA -- Mick Gordon {BFG Division}

-- Well, yes, this is definitely the intersection of USA entries and video game music. This feels like music to physically scrape whatever thoughts I may have had off my brain, and I'm not actually sure that's a complaint. This really doesn't need to go on for eight minutes. Honestly the fact that this entry is rated just under the median says something.

LLANOWAR -- FamilyJules7x {Heart of the Flame}

-- FJ7X's arranges for NecroDancer are overrated to begin with, and you missed a chance to submit 3-3 (Fire) or Fortissimole's theme. Seriously. 3-3 rave. Uhm, what you actually submitted is okay. It's metal. \m/ I guess. It really suffers from being on the bad side of an uneven playing field, in terms of budget.

IRAQ -- CHON {Pitch Dark}

-- I appreciate the vibe this has going on, and the playfulness with the rhythms is pretty neat, but there isn't really anything that elevates this from "nice generic background music" tier, extra repetitive. This video is actually kind of disturbing.

IRELAND -- Sidney Gish {Sin Triangle}

-- This isn't really my genre at all, but at least it's not total snooze music. The lyrics seem like they only make sense to people who have ever had social lives in school, so they bounce off me.


TIER: NO POINTS.

CANADA -- American Football {Uncomfortably Numb (feat. Hayley Williams)}

-- I really wish this wasn't white guy with guitar attempting to emote. The lyrics look kind of interesting.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC -- Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel {Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)}

-- This is not going to be the CAR entry where I come close to neutral on the vocals. The backup singers make all kinds of questionable artistic choices. The whole package comes across as unintentionally comedic. The quality increased dramatically at around the 2:00 mark when the vocals stopped and the synth started.

ESTONIA -- CombatPlayer {Terminus}

-- The tuning on the upper register of the piano feels off, and that's jarring after a minute of basically hearing one note get played. The sound is not rich; it's thin and tinny. The artist claims to be self-taught and... yeah.

NIGER -- Bombino {Amidinine}

-- This whole thing is soupy and unintelligble. I honestly don't get it. At least the chords are cooler than the below entry.

ISLE OF MAN -- All Time Low {Trouble Is}

-- So the rhythm is whatever it needs to be, and the vocal range is kind of monotone. This isn't really doing anything for me, and its generic rock-ness is what puts it above what it's above.

SELEUCID KINGDOM -- Camila Cabello {Consequences}

-- This song seems like it'll only work on someone whose brain is currently being warped by emotional chemicals, so it doesn't do anything for me. I kind of gave up on this when they literally said "young, wild, and free" (the first time).


TIER: NO

NEW ZEALAND -- Kodaline {All I Want}

-- Jesus Christ the white guys have a guitar and they're attempting to emote. If this were on the radio I'd have flipped by the 30-second mark. It manages to move past artistically folk beyond whiny to someplace pretty close to yodeling. The stomping was a nice touch at least, and the clapping brought it to where it should have started.

INDONESIA -- J Dilla {U-Love}

-- This song has serious basilisk hack energy. It feels like it's frontally assaulting my brain with repeated use of samples that have been statistically shown to correlate with positive emotional responses in other people, and then aiming to flank by disabling my ears with the volume effect on "just because". I can't help but feel that there's some context I'm missing here.

NEPAL -- 霜月はるか {EXEC_VIENA/.}

-- I was originally going to submit EXEC_over_METHOD_SUBLIMATION ~omness etc. but decided I hated too much about it. When this came up in my first pass and I realized it sounded

maybe

slightly more exciting than the entries that had preceded it, my heart sank. Still, I usually underestimate my own performances, so... this ain't winnin' but hopefully this makes it out of the 20s.

It's Ar Tonelico, so they're literally singing computer code in emotion language. That said, considering they're singing code the enunciation rules seem EXTREMELY loose. The thought was nice.

Ar Tonelico was explained to me as amazing fantasy worldbuilding holding up of some of the worst JRPG writing ever composed. I have witnessed seven minutes of gameplay over the Internet and I think that's enough for my lifetime... and probably everyone else's lifetime too. Once again, the thought was nice.

[PJ.]

Yeah, what's up with that? I was actually debating posting a RWBY intro song only because I think it's kickass. Maybe in a few contests.

I was debating entering Red Like Roses II because it's Ruby's theme in BBTAG

[PJ.]

Yeah, what's up with that? I was actually debating posting a RWBY intro song only because I think it's kickass. Maybe in a few contests.

I was debating entering Red Like Roses II because it's Ruby's theme in BBTAG