9th place:
schadd
Senyawa - Kabau
This is a pretty low key brooding piece that I keep expecting to do more. It feels restless and pensive, ready to break out in a scream or a mad dash for freedom away from that constantly flickering guitar that seems to rise up like flames around the deep droning soundscape. I think it's definitely fitting for a desert. I didn't get around to exploring their other material in the process of going through this, but based on some of the names I saw as collaborators--Melt-Banana and Stephen O'Malley among others--I'm guessing they range all over the place. I'm going to try to make a point to check out more when I'm done with all this. In the meantime, the tension in this is perfect. Well done.
9.2
[WALRUS] Shad Walrus 2021
Moderator: Community Team
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
8th place:
MyNameIsNothing
Shady Nasty - AA
This it took me a very long time to reach a point where I directly enjoyed this, but it trended all the way up from the bottom feeders to top 10. This isn't a category where enjoyment is necessary anyway, and it was hard for me for all the right reasons. It's got a sort of Death Grips vibe going on. That repetitive bass and mechanically rapped vocals paint a really harsh environment. The breaks to shouting aren't fulfilling outlets. The oppressive mood sustains, and the bass takes on an almost Jaws persona from 1:40. We start out in a world of shit, and the walls start closing in. It feels so appropriate here.
9.3
MyNameIsNothing
Shady Nasty - AA
This it took me a very long time to reach a point where I directly enjoyed this, but it trended all the way up from the bottom feeders to top 10. This isn't a category where enjoyment is necessary anyway, and it was hard for me for all the right reasons. It's got a sort of Death Grips vibe going on. That repetitive bass and mechanically rapped vocals paint a really harsh environment. The breaks to shouting aren't fulfilling outlets. The oppressive mood sustains, and the bass takes on an almost Jaws persona from 1:40. We start out in a world of shit, and the walls start closing in. It feels so appropriate here.
9.3
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
7th place:
Newcomb
Pharmakon - Transmission
I have no idea what this name actually means, but conjuring the pharmaceutical industry feels more sinister to me than any amount of standard satan and warfare modes. The noise wall at 0:50 sounds like one of those blaster toys gone berserk, and the bass acts like the musical version of an optical illusion, trapped in an eternal descent. The noise of this is so well done that when I'm really paying attention, her vocals feel in the way, blocking me from a meditative round-aboutly calming drone. But I don't think the vocals are out of place here. They just add a level of discomfort that prevents the song from transcending and keeps it disturbed. She's got some pretty unique moments. The way it clicks up into some mechanical shriek at 2:52 especially stood out to me. I don't know that anything about it links into a desert landscape specifically, but it fits the other core of the category in its isolation and lack of any distinctly urban flare despite an industrial flavor.
9.4
Newcomb
Pharmakon - Transmission
I have no idea what this name actually means, but conjuring the pharmaceutical industry feels more sinister to me than any amount of standard satan and warfare modes. The noise wall at 0:50 sounds like one of those blaster toys gone berserk, and the bass acts like the musical version of an optical illusion, trapped in an eternal descent. The noise of this is so well done that when I'm really paying attention, her vocals feel in the way, blocking me from a meditative round-aboutly calming drone. But I don't think the vocals are out of place here. They just add a level of discomfort that prevents the song from transcending and keeps it disturbed. She's got some pretty unique moments. The way it clicks up into some mechanical shriek at 2:52 especially stood out to me. I don't know that anything about it links into a desert landscape specifically, but it fits the other core of the category in its isolation and lack of any distinctly urban flare despite an industrial flavor.
9.4
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
6th place:
LordQuas
Kowloon Walled City - The Pressure Keeps Me Alive
I've always gone into this band with extremely high expectations on account of their name and then passively lost interest, but I've never had to parse them in the context of a walrus before. I've never listened closely. This gives me the peculiar feeling that they landed on a very common sound indirectly. It could be pure Neurosis worship, but it has a lot of screamo and post-hardcore undertones. It's in the vocals. It's in the way the guitars back off the distortion just enough to not bleed together. Or maybe Deftones? It didn't hit me until I sat down to type this, but that's exactly what it is. The Deftones influence throughout this is palpable. I'm going to have to laugh at all the Metal Archive purists for letting them in now. It has an Isis-like sense of relentless plodding to it, too. At any rate, their sound isn't particularly original, but it masters a very nice blend of heavy and human. It's post-metal inevitability with a sludgy here and now.
This song ended up setting the stage for the entire experience of this category. Reading about Kowloon roundaboutly lead to me and AP and I think Quas? sharing links on architectural distastes and abandoned urbanity for most of the nights I listened to all of these subs. That really entertained me and made this song a sort of baseline for assessing all others, so 0.5 bonus for you.
9.5 + 0.5
LordQuas
Kowloon Walled City - The Pressure Keeps Me Alive
I've always gone into this band with extremely high expectations on account of their name and then passively lost interest, but I've never had to parse them in the context of a walrus before. I've never listened closely. This gives me the peculiar feeling that they landed on a very common sound indirectly. It could be pure Neurosis worship, but it has a lot of screamo and post-hardcore undertones. It's in the vocals. It's in the way the guitars back off the distortion just enough to not bleed together. Or maybe Deftones? It didn't hit me until I sat down to type this, but that's exactly what it is. The Deftones influence throughout this is palpable. I'm going to have to laugh at all the Metal Archive purists for letting them in now. It has an Isis-like sense of relentless plodding to it, too. At any rate, their sound isn't particularly original, but it masters a very nice blend of heavy and human. It's post-metal inevitability with a sludgy here and now.
This song ended up setting the stage for the entire experience of this category. Reading about Kowloon roundaboutly lead to me and AP and I think Quas? sharing links on architectural distastes and abandoned urbanity for most of the nights I listened to all of these subs. That really entertained me and made this song a sort of baseline for assessing all others, so 0.5 bonus for you.
9.5 + 0.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
TOP 5
Made
staypositivefriend
Tangrowth
Zack
Zarathustra
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
5th place:
Made
Miles Davis - Blue in Green
This works for me here, and it probably shouldn't. I could impose this style of music over an endless array of scenes and find excuses to make it stick. Sure, it's not projecting a harsh environment physically, but the trumpet's swagger sets it apart from the smooth jazz in a way that can assume an aura of isolation. Or at least, conformity within an environment of introversion. We could perhaps sooner be in the city, captured by the smooth piano and bass, but there's an abrasiveness in the trumpet and brushes that I can place in a more exposed world if I want to. I guess what I'm getting at is that while it more readily appeals to other settings, that doesn't make it contrary to this one. I don't think that subdued swagger is particularly different from the gun-slinging western jams I let pass, deep down. It's rogue music in the face of adversity. Maybe our protagonist here is just more of a cool collected antihero than a cowboy. Maybe I'm just grasping at straws to make it fit, but it's hard to relate just how captivated I am by this. I put it on and an immense calm sets over me instantly and I have no desire to listen to anything else until it's finished. And in spite of calm being the key, it doesn't feel out of place to me. It's true solace, but in bleak pleasures.
9.6
Made
Miles Davis - Blue in Green
This works for me here, and it probably shouldn't. I could impose this style of music over an endless array of scenes and find excuses to make it stick. Sure, it's not projecting a harsh environment physically, but the trumpet's swagger sets it apart from the smooth jazz in a way that can assume an aura of isolation. Or at least, conformity within an environment of introversion. We could perhaps sooner be in the city, captured by the smooth piano and bass, but there's an abrasiveness in the trumpet and brushes that I can place in a more exposed world if I want to. I guess what I'm getting at is that while it more readily appeals to other settings, that doesn't make it contrary to this one. I don't think that subdued swagger is particularly different from the gun-slinging western jams I let pass, deep down. It's rogue music in the face of adversity. Maybe our protagonist here is just more of a cool collected antihero than a cowboy. Maybe I'm just grasping at straws to make it fit, but it's hard to relate just how captivated I am by this. I put it on and an immense calm sets over me instantly and I have no desire to listen to anything else until it's finished. And in spite of calm being the key, it doesn't feel out of place to me. It's true solace, but in bleak pleasures.
9.6
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
4th place:
Tangrowth
Stars of the Lid - Taphead
This is pure ear candy and I don't care if there's nothing happening in it. I click play and zone into my happy place and then 12 and a half minutes later realize a song just ended. I think the tones are appropriate for a vast empty place, whether that's the desert or ocean or space. It's certainly not out of its element here. And mmmmmm no more talking....
That stretch of near silence from 00:00 to 12:34 might be my favorite passage of the song.
9.7
Tangrowth
Stars of the Lid - Taphead
This is pure ear candy and I don't care if there's nothing happening in it. I click play and zone into my happy place and then 12 and a half minutes later realize a song just ended. I think the tones are appropriate for a vast empty place, whether that's the desert or ocean or space. It's certainly not out of its element here. And mmmmmm no more talking....
That stretch of near silence from 00:00 to 12:34 might be my favorite passage of the song.
9.7
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
3rd place:
staypositivefriend
mewithoutYou - August 6th
Each time I listened to this, I picked up more bits and pieces of lyrics that made no sense to me collectively but painted something devastating. All the birds fell like frogs from the sky. My heart felt like Guernica scenes. Human foreheads all smashed, foreign cars upside down. I'm not sure why he says Guernica with a W, but Ws seem to be all the rage in this reveal. Uh...
I liked this from first encounter and still don't know that I've fully digested it. It's a very satisfying composition that makes outstanding use of its space. It's never doing much I can point to as a distinct feature. It doesn't actually progress all that much in practice, but if feels like I've been on a journey. I kind of knew this would take the lead over Lilac Queen in the end and wrote up that song as if this had already been revealed anyway. It has less immediate appeal but never stopped growing on me. Something in its even-keel presentation fits the scene better for me, and it did a little more for me lyrically, though both were great in that department. This just puts me in the perfect zone.
9.8
staypositivefriend
mewithoutYou - August 6th
Each time I listened to this, I picked up more bits and pieces of lyrics that made no sense to me collectively but painted something devastating. All the birds fell like frogs from the sky. My heart felt like Guernica scenes. Human foreheads all smashed, foreign cars upside down. I'm not sure why he says Guernica with a W, but Ws seem to be all the rage in this reveal. Uh...
I liked this from first encounter and still don't know that I've fully digested it. It's a very satisfying composition that makes outstanding use of its space. It's never doing much I can point to as a distinct feature. It doesn't actually progress all that much in practice, but if feels like I've been on a journey. I kind of knew this would take the lead over Lilac Queen in the end and wrote up that song as if this had already been revealed anyway. It has less immediate appeal but never stopped growing on me. Something in its even-keel presentation fits the scene better for me, and it did a little more for me lyrically, though both were great in that department. This just puts me in the perfect zone.
9.8
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
2nd place:
Zack
Magnolia Electric Co - Almost Was Good Enough
I've had a bunch of Songs: Ohia albums sitting on my harddrive for going on 20 years, and I've still yet to dive into him. Oops. I love this like I love the Neil Young sub to cat 1 for a lot of the same stylistic reasons. I can ride these half-improvised country blues slow jams forever. They never feel long enough. The lyricism and his delivery through the first half of this song is great. I love how "nothing's lonely now, nothing anymore in pain" comes out so desperate and false. It's hard to not get invested in the story he's telling. "Then a tall shadow dressed the way secrets always dress when they want everyone to know that they're around comes leaning in."
It's weird how the narrative drops off six minutes in. This was recorded ten years before he died, so I'm probably fishing pretty far afield to relate the lyrical fumbling to his lifestyle, but it's still interesting to imagine... The song's title seems like a pretty direct response to the shadow's declaration that almost no one makes it out. In the far less emotive studio version of this, the filler section doesn't exist. He immediately issues his response. He's going to use the street to hide from human doubt that was shining but finally burned us out. Vague but... seemingly positive--to focus on the streets, the here and now, and not dwell on his fears, maybe? The ending isn't ambiguous. "You're talking to one right now. For once, almost was good enough."
In the live version though, he doesn't look the shadow in the eyes. He starts fumbling for options. He projects them as positive, but they're short-lived fancies and trivial pleasures. Maybe he can pack up and move and start a new life. Maybe he can get laid tonight. "See the lonely boys out on the weekend trying to make it pay". They're all doing the same. Maybe he's just babbling to extend the song for 9 minutes, but something in his description of the streets he's going to hide in makes them feel very superficial, not a lasting alternative to his troubles. And when he returns to the scripted lyrics, he offers subtle changes. Fear burned me out, not us. It's more personal. And then a very pronounced "once". It's not good enough anymore.
Yeah, ok, he needed to add four minutes to the song and might have just made up some cheap lines on the fly. Towards the original lyrics, he said "me" instead of "us" and "once" instead of "for once". He says "for" the next time. There's probably absolutely nothing below the surface to any of this. But it completely flips the message on its head, from a triumph to a cynical resignation far more in keeping with the mood of the music he's singing to. I thought it was interesting, and it's fun to deep dive a song I'm vibing even if I know I'm letting my imagination carry me away.
9.9
Zack
Magnolia Electric Co - Almost Was Good Enough
I've had a bunch of Songs: Ohia albums sitting on my harddrive for going on 20 years, and I've still yet to dive into him. Oops. I love this like I love the Neil Young sub to cat 1 for a lot of the same stylistic reasons. I can ride these half-improvised country blues slow jams forever. They never feel long enough. The lyricism and his delivery through the first half of this song is great. I love how "nothing's lonely now, nothing anymore in pain" comes out so desperate and false. It's hard to not get invested in the story he's telling. "Then a tall shadow dressed the way secrets always dress when they want everyone to know that they're around comes leaning in."
It's weird how the narrative drops off six minutes in. This was recorded ten years before he died, so I'm probably fishing pretty far afield to relate the lyrical fumbling to his lifestyle, but it's still interesting to imagine... The song's title seems like a pretty direct response to the shadow's declaration that almost no one makes it out. In the far less emotive studio version of this, the filler section doesn't exist. He immediately issues his response. He's going to use the street to hide from human doubt that was shining but finally burned us out. Vague but... seemingly positive--to focus on the streets, the here and now, and not dwell on his fears, maybe? The ending isn't ambiguous. "You're talking to one right now. For once, almost was good enough."
In the live version though, he doesn't look the shadow in the eyes. He starts fumbling for options. He projects them as positive, but they're short-lived fancies and trivial pleasures. Maybe he can pack up and move and start a new life. Maybe he can get laid tonight. "See the lonely boys out on the weekend trying to make it pay". They're all doing the same. Maybe he's just babbling to extend the song for 9 minutes, but something in his description of the streets he's going to hide in makes them feel very superficial, not a lasting alternative to his troubles. And when he returns to the scripted lyrics, he offers subtle changes. Fear burned me out, not us. It's more personal. And then a very pronounced "once". It's not good enough anymore.
Yeah, ok, he needed to add four minutes to the song and might have just made up some cheap lines on the fly. Towards the original lyrics, he said "me" instead of "us" and "once" instead of "for once". He says "for" the next time. There's probably absolutely nothing below the surface to any of this. But it completely flips the message on its head, from a triumph to a cynical resignation far more in keeping with the mood of the music he's singing to. I thought it was interesting, and it's fun to deep dive a song I'm vibing even if I know I'm letting my imagination carry me away.
9.9
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
1st place:
Zarathustra
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Dead Flag Blues
This feels like cheating, but I made no mention of it here and honestly didn't even think of it when I was writing the category. I stole a line from the lyrics in my cat 7 description last year, subs from which this one derived. f#a#oo and Sigur Rós's Ágætis Byrjun are the albums that introduced me to post-rock. I played the hell out of this circa 2000 and it's sort of subconsciously canonized in my list of greatest songs ever. But that does nothing to diminish the experience of listening to it again, and it's arguably a better category fit here than in the one I applied it to before. The Slow Moving Trains and Cowboy movements have such distinct western feels mingling the dystopian setting with a desert environment. Even with the familiarity factor in play, there just wasn't anything to top this. One of my favorite songs turned out to be the perfect fit, and I hadn't thought of it when I designed the category. gg
10
Zarathustra
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Dead Flag Blues
This feels like cheating, but I made no mention of it here and honestly didn't even think of it when I was writing the category. I stole a line from the lyrics in my cat 7 description last year, subs from which this one derived. f#a#oo and Sigur Rós's Ágætis Byrjun are the albums that introduced me to post-rock. I played the hell out of this circa 2000 and it's sort of subconsciously canonized in my list of greatest songs ever. But that does nothing to diminish the experience of listening to it again, and it's arguably a better category fit here than in the one I applied it to before. The Slow Moving Trains and Cowboy movements have such distinct western feels mingling the dystopian setting with a desert environment. Even with the familiarity factor in play, there just wasn't anything to top this. One of my favorite songs turned out to be the perfect fit, and I hadn't thought of it when I designed the category. gg
10
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
Scoring through 4
39. 14.1 PunchyTheCat
38. 23.1 Moose
37. 25.0 Relm
36. 26.6 Logic
35. 27.1 gbsfranca
34. 27.9 vanity.
31. 28.2 Ace Marvel
31. 28.2 Cory
31. 28.2 ladd
30. 28.4 Frog
28. 28.5 Aladyyn
28. 28.5 BoKnows
27. 28.7 Bloobird
26. 29.2 LordQuas
25. 29.4 Visorslash
24. 29.7 Made
23. 29.8 nutella
22. 30.7 Ampharos
21. 30.9 Kane
20. 31.1 soah
19. 31.2 KnightsofCydonia
18. 31.7 roro__b
17. 32.0 Marcher Jovian
16. 32.2 shubaka17
15. 32.3 Keldeo
14. 32.5 staypositivefriend
13. 32.8 Owner
12. 33.3 tane
11. 33.5 Psycho666Soldier
10. 33.6 birdwithteeth11
9. 34.1 Newcomb
7. 34.8 marmot
7. 34.8 MyNameIsNothing
5. 34.9 Adam
5. 34.9 Zarathustra
4. 35.1 Zack
3. 35.3 BLOODYRAIN10001
2. 35.8 Tangrowth
1. 37.5 schadd
39. 14.1 PunchyTheCat
38. 23.1 Moose
37. 25.0 Relm
36. 26.6 Logic
35. 27.1 gbsfranca
34. 27.9 vanity.
31. 28.2 Ace Marvel
31. 28.2 Cory
31. 28.2 ladd
30. 28.4 Frog
28. 28.5 Aladyyn
28. 28.5 BoKnows
27. 28.7 Bloobird
26. 29.2 LordQuas
25. 29.4 Visorslash
24. 29.7 Made
23. 29.8 nutella
22. 30.7 Ampharos
21. 30.9 Kane
20. 31.1 soah
19. 31.2 KnightsofCydonia
18. 31.7 roro__b
17. 32.0 Marcher Jovian
16. 32.2 shubaka17
15. 32.3 Keldeo
14. 32.5 staypositivefriend
13. 32.8 Owner
12. 33.3 tane
11. 33.5 Psycho666Soldier
10. 33.6 birdwithteeth11
9. 34.1 Newcomb
7. 34.8 marmot
7. 34.8 MyNameIsNothing
5. 34.9 Adam
5. 34.9 Zarathustra
4. 35.1 Zack
3. 35.3 BLOODYRAIN10001
2. 35.8 Tangrowth
1. 37.5 schadd
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
5. 9pm at apparently every Tokyo nightclub
Time to leave the slums behind and jam for the higher casts. We should probably rent suits for tonight's set, but let's face it, none of us have enough class to make it through the door. If you want to keep your jeans on and go for a hybrid, that's fine, but top shelf entertainment is the ideal. I want to hear something that swings.
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
37th place:
PunchyTheCat
Rina Sawayama - XS
STFU! at least made me laugh, if for perhaps not the intended reasons. This is just really boring to me. I get very tired very quickly of the repetitive chorus. The distorted sample she periodically plugs in doesn't really flow with the song and feels more like an overdone jarring for the sake of jarring play better suited for a one and done moment. She can sing well conventionally, but that pop R&B standard of waving your voice around often grates on me. The closest thing I can relate the feeling to is prog bands wanking out complex scales with no clear purpose beyond showing off. When I get distracted, I often put whatever sub I'm currently listening to on loop in the background and just let it familiarize passively until I can focus again. That usually helps, but this song only survived three or four extra spins before I found myself going oh God why am I still listening to it and popping on some other link.
4.0
PunchyTheCat
Rina Sawayama - XS
STFU! at least made me laugh, if for perhaps not the intended reasons. This is just really boring to me. I get very tired very quickly of the repetitive chorus. The distorted sample she periodically plugs in doesn't really flow with the song and feels more like an overdone jarring for the sake of jarring play better suited for a one and done moment. She can sing well conventionally, but that pop R&B standard of waving your voice around often grates on me. The closest thing I can relate the feeling to is prog bands wanking out complex scales with no clear purpose beyond showing off. When I get distracted, I often put whatever sub I'm currently listening to on loop in the background and just let it familiarize passively until I can focus again. That usually helps, but this song only survived three or four extra spins before I found myself going oh God why am I still listening to it and popping on some other link.
4.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
36th place:
Cory
Triathalon - Garden 2
This doesn't feel like it's only a minute and a half, but I'm not sure that's a great thing. The vocals are bleak for me in a way that could suit some mood but feels out of place here. I could write it off if there was more to the song, but there's so little to work with here that every component matters. It has a dark cynical triphop atmosphere that could have technical relevance, I don't know, but it grinds in opposition to the sort of songs I was looking for. Again, not a game-ender, but it needs more than most to pull through at 90 seconds, and it's giving me less than most in the time it does have.
4.5
Cory
Triathalon - Garden 2
This doesn't feel like it's only a minute and a half, but I'm not sure that's a great thing. The vocals are bleak for me in a way that could suit some mood but feels out of place here. I could write it off if there was more to the song, but there's so little to work with here that every component matters. It has a dark cynical triphop atmosphere that could have technical relevance, I don't know, but it grinds in opposition to the sort of songs I was looking for. Again, not a game-ender, but it needs more than most to pull through at 90 seconds, and it's giving me less than most in the time it does have.
4.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
35th place:
ladd
Mew - Am I Wry? No
I had to play this at 2x speed to begin to wrap my head around why it was subbed here. I don't actually parse rhythm in a mathematical sense at all. I never quite got it conceptually, like, any note can go anywhere so it just matters how it feels, no? This has lead to some odd adventures programming with 4/4 templates, but I digress. I guess there's an emphasis on the off beat that something something technical definitions of swing might qualify this? A technical fit is going to be lost on me here. The monotone repetition generates a head on pulse with minimal motion. More unfortunately for you, I also already know the original version of this song, and I enjoy a lot of others by them better, and this newer recording isn't really changing that. I can't offer you much here.
5.0
ladd
Mew - Am I Wry? No
I had to play this at 2x speed to begin to wrap my head around why it was subbed here. I don't actually parse rhythm in a mathematical sense at all. I never quite got it conceptually, like, any note can go anywhere so it just matters how it feels, no? This has lead to some odd adventures programming with 4/4 templates, but I digress. I guess there's an emphasis on the off beat that something something technical definitions of swing might qualify this? A technical fit is going to be lost on me here. The monotone repetition generates a head on pulse with minimal motion. More unfortunately for you, I also already know the original version of this song, and I enjoy a lot of others by them better, and this newer recording isn't really changing that. I can't offer you much here.
5.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
34th place:
Zack
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
The synth layers over her voice in the chorus sound incredible, and, coupled with that hard beat and the high pitched keys, make the peaks of this song delicious. Unfortunately, I can't stand the rest of it. I don't like the superficial cool of her rapped lines. Maybe if she was singing in a foreign language or something I might have a more positive impression, because I feel the lyrics and performance are intimately entwined here. She's shipping a very narcissistic sexism--the sort of thing that sometimes rubs me with Kanye and was all over that Drake sub I got last year. It's more validation-seeking than playful boasting. Everybody wants me but just isn't whatever gender enough to deserve it. Please please please notice that the whole world is focused on me. The "haha" at 2:11 is absurdly vulnerable. Everything about the song bleeds insecurity to me, and she projects her voice in line with what she's saying. She sells a distinct image that feels... displaced from the surface appearance in an unaware way. I'm not going to make assumptions about her artistic intent, but it can sometimes result in an uncomfortable listening experience.
I ended up pulling up the Lim Kim sub I got last year to check myself. Both had rapped vocals. Both explicitly tackled the topic of female empowerment by way of self-aggrandizement. It's not something I encounter as often as the male counterpart, and one worked for me exceedingly well while the other flopped. The thing that immediately leapt out to me was how the Lim Kim song had so much I where this song has so much you. I don't know, I got a bit caught up in Dua Lipa's protagonist's claim to be an "alpha" and why it feels so false in this instance. And it took me down a long rabbit hole that didn't achieve a conclusive answer in the time I could afford it, but I think that it has something to do with the extent to which a projection of willpower feels genuine according to my perception of the projector's capacity for self-awareness. Over-the-top boasting can be fun and isn't necessarily meant to be taken seriously. But the more a claim to empowerment requires affirmation from a presumptively inferior target, and the more that target is generalized, the higher the demand for an absurdist undertone to counterbalance the confrontation. Otherwise it takes the shape of a sincere challenge to the individual listener. It becomes a test of wills between an isolated piece of art incapable of defending itself and an actual person. The ambiguous you is a risky invocation.
The music she's singing to stays minimal and just draws more attention to how much I'm put off by what she's singing. The break at 1:12 is uh... I think if I was into the song in the first place I might find value in it, but I'm not, so it just sounds weird without purpose. But the chorus jams, and that's worth something.
5.2
Zack
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
The synth layers over her voice in the chorus sound incredible, and, coupled with that hard beat and the high pitched keys, make the peaks of this song delicious. Unfortunately, I can't stand the rest of it. I don't like the superficial cool of her rapped lines. Maybe if she was singing in a foreign language or something I might have a more positive impression, because I feel the lyrics and performance are intimately entwined here. She's shipping a very narcissistic sexism--the sort of thing that sometimes rubs me with Kanye and was all over that Drake sub I got last year. It's more validation-seeking than playful boasting. Everybody wants me but just isn't whatever gender enough to deserve it. Please please please notice that the whole world is focused on me. The "haha" at 2:11 is absurdly vulnerable. Everything about the song bleeds insecurity to me, and she projects her voice in line with what she's saying. She sells a distinct image that feels... displaced from the surface appearance in an unaware way. I'm not going to make assumptions about her artistic intent, but it can sometimes result in an uncomfortable listening experience.
I ended up pulling up the Lim Kim sub I got last year to check myself. Both had rapped vocals. Both explicitly tackled the topic of female empowerment by way of self-aggrandizement. It's not something I encounter as often as the male counterpart, and one worked for me exceedingly well while the other flopped. The thing that immediately leapt out to me was how the Lim Kim song had so much I where this song has so much you. I don't know, I got a bit caught up in Dua Lipa's protagonist's claim to be an "alpha" and why it feels so false in this instance. And it took me down a long rabbit hole that didn't achieve a conclusive answer in the time I could afford it, but I think that it has something to do with the extent to which a projection of willpower feels genuine according to my perception of the projector's capacity for self-awareness. Over-the-top boasting can be fun and isn't necessarily meant to be taken seriously. But the more a claim to empowerment requires affirmation from a presumptively inferior target, and the more that target is generalized, the higher the demand for an absurdist undertone to counterbalance the confrontation. Otherwise it takes the shape of a sincere challenge to the individual listener. It becomes a test of wills between an isolated piece of art incapable of defending itself and an actual person. The ambiguous you is a risky invocation.
The music she's singing to stays minimal and just draws more attention to how much I'm put off by what she's singing. The break at 1:12 is uh... I think if I was into the song in the first place I might find value in it, but I'm not, so it just sounds weird without purpose. But the chorus jams, and that's worth something.
5.2
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
33rd place:
Keldeo
Atsushi Kitajoh - Axe to Grind
You're one of those dirty 128kps subbers, but I found another upload that wasn't awful. This is cool in a basic way. You got closer to the core style I was looking for than most, and while that wasn't a significant requirement here, it's refreshing. The lyrics are really quite wretched in a this was clearly not written by a native English speaker and Japanese suave rubs pedantidiotic when you roll poetry over literally sort of way. I went back to my Mario Odyssey sample track convinced that they took extensive creative liberties in converting the vocal tracks from that game to English. Break Free panned out pretty hilarious. The English version is so well crafted to catch a sweet innocent sense of adventure. Google Translate spit out the opening lines of the Japanese version as "If you break the emotional block, cowardice disappears into the abyss."
That is what the lyrics to this song feel like and it's.... not great. Artistic intent through the nuance of language and vocal expression does not translate like that. But I'll not bore you with pathetic loooo-gic and just call it messy. The singer never has an opportunity to shine because the lyrics flow so awkwardly. The synth strings are kind of dull in a style that often capitalizes on flavor. I thought the little xylophone descent that first plays at 0:37 was a creative flare used infrequently enough to contribute a lot. But if I dive beneath the immediate sense that this hops along in the manner I was looking for, it leaves a lot to be desired.
5.5
Keldeo
Atsushi Kitajoh - Axe to Grind
You're one of those dirty 128kps subbers, but I found another upload that wasn't awful. This is cool in a basic way. You got closer to the core style I was looking for than most, and while that wasn't a significant requirement here, it's refreshing. The lyrics are really quite wretched in a this was clearly not written by a native English speaker and Japanese suave rubs pedantidiotic when you roll poetry over literally sort of way. I went back to my Mario Odyssey sample track convinced that they took extensive creative liberties in converting the vocal tracks from that game to English. Break Free panned out pretty hilarious. The English version is so well crafted to catch a sweet innocent sense of adventure. Google Translate spit out the opening lines of the Japanese version as "If you break the emotional block, cowardice disappears into the abyss."
That is what the lyrics to this song feel like and it's.... not great. Artistic intent through the nuance of language and vocal expression does not translate like that. But I'll not bore you with pathetic loooo-gic and just call it messy. The singer never has an opportunity to shine because the lyrics flow so awkwardly. The synth strings are kind of dull in a style that often capitalizes on flavor. I thought the little xylophone descent that first plays at 0:37 was a creative flare used infrequently enough to contribute a lot. But if I dive beneath the immediate sense that this hops along in the manner I was looking for, it leaves a lot to be desired.
5.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
32nd place:
staypositivefriend
They Might Be Giants - No One Knows My Plan
I wish I liked They Might Be Giants more than I do, but I've struggled with most of what I've heard. I think it's cute that they recorded kids' albums. This song keeps it very simple and tame, and I guess there's something pleasantly innocent about that too, but it's doing very little for me. I almost wish he was singing children's music here, like I could actually find application for it with different lyrics. The unexpectedly run of the mill guitar solo at 1:17 clashed for me with the rest of the song's innocence. I kind of want to say I'd have enjoyed more without it, but there's only so much you can hack away here before there's barely a song left. It really was cute though. I would have liked to give it a little nudge, but competition was tight in this one.
5.8
staypositivefriend
They Might Be Giants - No One Knows My Plan
I wish I liked They Might Be Giants more than I do, but I've struggled with most of what I've heard. I think it's cute that they recorded kids' albums. This song keeps it very simple and tame, and I guess there's something pleasantly innocent about that too, but it's doing very little for me. I almost wish he was singing children's music here, like I could actually find application for it with different lyrics. The unexpectedly run of the mill guitar solo at 1:17 clashed for me with the rest of the song's innocence. I kind of want to say I'd have enjoyed more without it, but there's only so much you can hack away here before there's barely a song left. It really was cute though. I would have liked to give it a little nudge, but competition was tight in this one.
5.8
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
31st place:
birdwithteeth11
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Lady Clandestine Chainbreaker
I figured I was going to get DSO subs to this, and I thought hey, great, I can finally hear them in their native environment and appreciate what everyone likes so much about them. That didn't go quite as planned. The song starts out fun for a few seconds, but by 0:14 it's feeling like a default keyboard accompaniment. It draws all the focus on Evegård's textured, sensual vocals, which do a lot less for me than what I remember of Lögdlund's ranged operatics, at least in this context. They transition into this Muse-esque crooning anthem of sustained notes over polka-dot drum and bass at 0:38 that doesn't particularly move me either without much else going on, and then we're looping. The dull spoken words at 1:50 overshadow the staccato subtlety of the strings. And I'm not going to try to articulate every section, but the song continues down this path of Muse-worshipping repetitively structured rock that pulls in a lot of non-traditional influences but never does anything I find interesting with them.
This feels like something fans might relate to the way I relate to later Korpiklaani, where as long as they retain the core sound endeared to me through their more imaginative early works, rock tropes are easily forgiven. I find a lot of niche gimmick bands tend to age that way. But DSO was never my cup of tea in the first place. I did stumble into a comically head-scratchy review of this song while trying to hunt down the melody, which concluded that it should appeal to fans of Opeth. Maybe the joke's on me.
The prevailing melody of the song that gets brassed up in the outro lead me on a bit of an adventure. I took it to be a staple Renaissance piece--the sort of tune you hear in a hundred different situations but never know the name of--but the only name coming to mind was Good King Wenceslas. And it's not quite that. Some digging revealed it to be the melody of Nobuo Uematsu's "Debut" from Final Fantasy VII--almost certainly the source of its blatant familiarity to me--though this in turn may have been taken from "House of the King" by 70s Dutch prog band Focus. Hard to say who DSO lifted it from--their liner notes aren't spoiling--but it's certainly rooted in early music, and I don't think Wenceslas was that far off the mark. Spending a lot of time on this song helped a little, with the why I still like Korpiklaani line of thought clicking into a window of oh Shad just shut the fuck up and enjoy it at face value. Still not feeling her vocals at all though.
6.0
birdwithteeth11
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Lady Clandestine Chainbreaker
I figured I was going to get DSO subs to this, and I thought hey, great, I can finally hear them in their native environment and appreciate what everyone likes so much about them. That didn't go quite as planned. The song starts out fun for a few seconds, but by 0:14 it's feeling like a default keyboard accompaniment. It draws all the focus on Evegård's textured, sensual vocals, which do a lot less for me than what I remember of Lögdlund's ranged operatics, at least in this context. They transition into this Muse-esque crooning anthem of sustained notes over polka-dot drum and bass at 0:38 that doesn't particularly move me either without much else going on, and then we're looping. The dull spoken words at 1:50 overshadow the staccato subtlety of the strings. And I'm not going to try to articulate every section, but the song continues down this path of Muse-worshipping repetitively structured rock that pulls in a lot of non-traditional influences but never does anything I find interesting with them.
This feels like something fans might relate to the way I relate to later Korpiklaani, where as long as they retain the core sound endeared to me through their more imaginative early works, rock tropes are easily forgiven. I find a lot of niche gimmick bands tend to age that way. But DSO was never my cup of tea in the first place. I did stumble into a comically head-scratchy review of this song while trying to hunt down the melody, which concluded that it should appeal to fans of Opeth. Maybe the joke's on me.
The prevailing melody of the song that gets brassed up in the outro lead me on a bit of an adventure. I took it to be a staple Renaissance piece--the sort of tune you hear in a hundred different situations but never know the name of--but the only name coming to mind was Good King Wenceslas. And it's not quite that. Some digging revealed it to be the melody of Nobuo Uematsu's "Debut" from Final Fantasy VII--almost certainly the source of its blatant familiarity to me--though this in turn may have been taken from "House of the King" by 70s Dutch prog band Focus. Hard to say who DSO lifted it from--their liner notes aren't spoiling--but it's certainly rooted in early music, and I don't think Wenceslas was that far off the mark. Spending a lot of time on this song helped a little, with the why I still like Korpiklaani line of thought clicking into a window of oh Shad just shut the fuck up and enjoy it at face value. Still not feeling her vocals at all though.
6.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
30th place:
Visorslash
Parov Stelar - All Night
The way they play with the vocal samples in this reminds me of all the Pogo subs I've been getting. The pounding keyboard dominating the soundscape for the vast majority of the song from 0:50 on wears on me over numerous plays and starts to really drag the song out despite its short length. I do like the playful samples and effects, but by the fifth or sixth consecutive listen I'm enjoying them behind a wall of modest annoyance. And that surprisingly failed to reset once I was removed from the song for a bit. The piano just grates on me a little. I saw a bunch of Parov Stelar tracks playing in the channel as I was getting ready for this reveal and thought oh God everyone's going to call this a hijack, let me revisit it. But I still walked away with a middling impression.
nutella (frozen(
(cube(3^3)))) — Today at 6:39 PM
i didnt actually sub parov stelar but maybe someone did
30th place hype!!! :\
6.5
Visorslash
Parov Stelar - All Night
The way they play with the vocal samples in this reminds me of all the Pogo subs I've been getting. The pounding keyboard dominating the soundscape for the vast majority of the song from 0:50 on wears on me over numerous plays and starts to really drag the song out despite its short length. I do like the playful samples and effects, but by the fifth or sixth consecutive listen I'm enjoying them behind a wall of modest annoyance. And that surprisingly failed to reset once I was removed from the song for a bit. The piano just grates on me a little. I saw a bunch of Parov Stelar tracks playing in the channel as I was getting ready for this reveal and thought oh God everyone's going to call this a hijack, let me revisit it. But I still walked away with a middling impression.
nutella (frozen(
(cube(3^3)))) — Today at 6:39 PMi didnt actually sub parov stelar but maybe someone did
30th place hype!!! :\
6.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
29th place:
roro__b
Pogo - What I Likes
This is cute. I'm probably repeating myself a lot to say it's a creative choice for a category that wasn't going to cater perfectly to the gimmick. From a direct appeal standpoint, I can't get into it quite so much as the more electronically-driven Pogo subs that came before it, but those would have all been in a pickle here to pretend to fit. I can work with this, and I miiiiight remember to make my kids watch Mary Poppins now.
6.8
roro__b
Pogo - What I Likes
This is cute. I'm probably repeating myself a lot to say it's a creative choice for a category that wasn't going to cater perfectly to the gimmick. From a direct appeal standpoint, I can't get into it quite so much as the more electronically-driven Pogo subs that came before it, but those would have all been in a pickle here to pretend to fit. I can work with this, and I miiiiight remember to make my kids watch Mary Poppins now.
6.8
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
28th place:
Moose
King Glasya - Float On But It's Money Machine
I listened to Good News For People Who Love Bad News a lot when it came out.
Never realized it was Fantanocore gecgecgecgecgecgecgecgecgecgec.
Even the lolcats to this category were great.
7.0
Moose
King Glasya - Float On But It's Money Machine
I listened to Good News For People Who Love Bad News a lot when it came out.
Never realized it was Fantanocore gecgecgecgecgecgecgecgecgecgec.
Even the lolcats to this category were great.
7.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
27th place:
Adam
Nujabes - Sky is Falling
Instrumentally this entire song is a 10 second loop. A couple of the tracks in the mix come and go, but in a category catering to jazz, the lack of variance really stands out. It's not something that bothered me. It just made it hard for this song to compete with subs that were similar but actively performed or farther from the mark but unique and eclectic. The chill vibe is great.
7.2
Adam
Nujabes - Sky is Falling
Instrumentally this entire song is a 10 second loop. A couple of the tracks in the mix come and go, but in a category catering to jazz, the lack of variance really stands out. It's not something that bothered me. It just made it hard for this song to compete with subs that were similar but actively performed or farther from the mark but unique and eclectic. The chill vibe is great.
7.2
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
26th place:
Bloobird
Royal Pickles - Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
This is cute and I like the old time diy feel of it. They seem like the sort of band that could just set up shop on a street corner and jam away. I mean, it's hard to separate Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho from being bored to death in Sunday School, and Hall of the Mountain King kind of conjures to mind an everything going wrong at once climax scene to a Looney Tunes sketch, but they're doing fun things with the songs.
I'll have you know I lost an entire evening of walrusing thanks to this sub indirectly exposing me to the wonders and horrors and sheer madness of black midi.
Which I'm sure was your intent.
7.3
Bloobird
Royal Pickles - Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
This is cute and I like the old time diy feel of it. They seem like the sort of band that could just set up shop on a street corner and jam away. I mean, it's hard to separate Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho from being bored to death in Sunday School, and Hall of the Mountain King kind of conjures to mind an everything going wrong at once climax scene to a Looney Tunes sketch, but they're doing fun things with the songs.
I'll have you know I lost an entire evening of walrusing thanks to this sub indirectly exposing me to the wonders and horrors and sheer madness of black midi.
Which I'm sure was your intent.
7.3
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
25th place:
Marcher Jovian
Electone Lab - Takarajima ~ T-Square (Jabberloop cover)
This is more viable for the category than the smoother Jabberloop original. It still bears the limitations of a synthetic recording. There's no room for expression in the trumpet or sax when all you can do is compress the keys. The percussion is tastefully varied and shows a lot of attention to detail, but still, in a style so defined by subtle expressions, this type of performance can only go so far. I think she did a great job with the equipment at her disposal. It's a pretty cool, high effort cover. It's a bit endearing for that, and there was a lot of charm too in getting to see the full picture of what she's doing in the video. It makes me happy, and I'm going to let that ride it above some tunes that were maybe more technically proficient.
7.4
Marcher Jovian
Electone Lab - Takarajima ~ T-Square (Jabberloop cover)
This is more viable for the category than the smoother Jabberloop original. It still bears the limitations of a synthetic recording. There's no room for expression in the trumpet or sax when all you can do is compress the keys. The percussion is tastefully varied and shows a lot of attention to detail, but still, in a style so defined by subtle expressions, this type of performance can only go so far. I think she did a great job with the equipment at her disposal. It's a pretty cool, high effort cover. It's a bit endearing for that, and there was a lot of charm too in getting to see the full picture of what she's doing in the video. It makes me happy, and I'm going to let that ride it above some tunes that were maybe more technically proficient.
7.4
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
24th place:
soah
Troldhaugen - Lefty's Wild Ride
One of the first things I noticed when I pulled these guys up was that their follow-up to Obzkure Anekdotez for Maniakal Massez, Idio+syncrasies, got absurdly low reviews. Like, the sort of panning you don't see unless it's really that bad. And I listened, and it was uh.... I mean... The instrumentation remained entirely decent, but the level of comedic tryharding in the lyrics was pretty hard to swallow. Then I came back to this song assuming everything would be bad too, which prooobably isn't a great starting point to kick off writing about it.
But I don't care, because this is troll metal. The stupid vocals are actually appropriate here, and the rest of the band is fine anyway. Sampling a few tracks from their 2012 release, I get the impression that they started out as Finntroll worship just like everyone else and then discovered Diablo Swing Orchestra and Nekrogoblikon somewhere over the next two years. I wouldn't call the present track original, but who cares really.
The thought of Nekrogoblikon being an influence on younger bands is pretty lol to me.
Stench is still one of the best albums of 2011.
7.5
soah
Troldhaugen - Lefty's Wild Ride
One of the first things I noticed when I pulled these guys up was that their follow-up to Obzkure Anekdotez for Maniakal Massez, Idio+syncrasies, got absurdly low reviews. Like, the sort of panning you don't see unless it's really that bad. And I listened, and it was uh.... I mean... The instrumentation remained entirely decent, but the level of comedic tryharding in the lyrics was pretty hard to swallow. Then I came back to this song assuming everything would be bad too, which prooobably isn't a great starting point to kick off writing about it.
But I don't care, because this is troll metal. The stupid vocals are actually appropriate here, and the rest of the band is fine anyway. Sampling a few tracks from their 2012 release, I get the impression that they started out as Finntroll worship just like everyone else and then discovered Diablo Swing Orchestra and Nekrogoblikon somewhere over the next two years. I wouldn't call the present track original, but who cares really.
The thought of Nekrogoblikon being an influence on younger bands is pretty lol to me.
Stench is still one of the best albums of 2011.
7.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
23rd place:
BoKnows
Kanye West - Flashing Lights
So this is what early Kanye sounds like. I don't think he explicitly mentions his penis once. The main hook of this is captivating, so much so that I've found myself putting it on loop and making excuses to not work on my Walrus so I can keep it going. The lyrics are rather dull, but he's not yeezing at me, so my brain just filters them like any other average instead of getting annoyed. His voice flows well with it. From a category standpoint, it isn't precisely what I had in mind, but I don't care so much as long as I'm digging it.
Also chuckling at whoever decided which words would get bleeped out here.
7.6
BoKnows
Kanye West - Flashing Lights
So this is what early Kanye sounds like. I don't think he explicitly mentions his penis once. The main hook of this is captivating, so much so that I've found myself putting it on loop and making excuses to not work on my Walrus so I can keep it going. The lyrics are rather dull, but he's not yeezing at me, so my brain just filters them like any other average instead of getting annoyed. His voice flows well with it. From a category standpoint, it isn't precisely what I had in mind, but I don't care so much as long as I'm digging it.
Also chuckling at whoever decided which words would get bleeped out here.
7.6
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
22nd place:
Logic
Akitaka Tohyama - Heat Haze Shadow 2
I hope I grabbed the right link, because this is extremely viable for cat 6. Toyama seems to have very little composer credit for a guy who's been in the business since the 90s, and if a fraction of his material sounds like this, I don't know how that's possible. This is pretty close to perfection by my measure of big fast-paced electronic music. That split second dubstep moment at 1:08 followed by the scales followed by the vocals at 1:30 while this glorious everywhere at once enhanced chip loop is playing out and fuck. Lush blips are going off like popcorn all through my head and I don't even want to try to bail on the immediate experience long enough to make sense of it.
This really should have been a cat 6 sub.
In a "swing" category it's... just not quite equipped to be the sort of thing I was looking for in a top entry. I mean, I went with a very loose interpretation for cat fits here and let anything that felt remotely jazz-inspired fly, but I'm not seeing this one unless it's something specific to time signatures that my ears are oblivious to. I had it slotted all the way up to 11th at one point, but... I needed to chop something and this was the kind of glaring odd man out. I'm probably going to dig up a copy of the soundtrack though.
7.8
Logic
Akitaka Tohyama - Heat Haze Shadow 2
I hope I grabbed the right link, because this is extremely viable for cat 6. Toyama seems to have very little composer credit for a guy who's been in the business since the 90s, and if a fraction of his material sounds like this, I don't know how that's possible. This is pretty close to perfection by my measure of big fast-paced electronic music. That split second dubstep moment at 1:08 followed by the scales followed by the vocals at 1:30 while this glorious everywhere at once enhanced chip loop is playing out and fuck. Lush blips are going off like popcorn all through my head and I don't even want to try to bail on the immediate experience long enough to make sense of it.
This really should have been a cat 6 sub.
In a "swing" category it's... just not quite equipped to be the sort of thing I was looking for in a top entry. I mean, I went with a very loose interpretation for cat fits here and let anything that felt remotely jazz-inspired fly, but I'm not seeing this one unless it's something specific to time signatures that my ears are oblivious to. I had it slotted all the way up to 11th at one point, but... I needed to chop something and this was the kind of glaring odd man out. I'm probably going to dig up a copy of the soundtrack though.
7.8
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
21st place:
Frog
Deorro - Bootie in Your Face
Let us commence the almost half way shit post parade.
7.9
Frog
Deorro - Bootie in Your Face
Let us commence the almost half way shit post parade.
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
TOP 20
Ace Marvel
Aladyyn
Ampharos
BLOODYRAIN10001
gbsfranca
Kane
KnightsofCydonia
LordQuas
Made
marmot
MyNameIsNothing
Newcomb
nutella
Owner of a Lonely Heart
Psycho666Soldier
Relm
schadd
shubaka17
tane
Tangrowth
vanity.
Zarathustra
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
20th place:
Ampharos
Snarky Puppy - Tarova
This is a lot less interesting than the last two Snarky Puppy subs I got. Classic dialtone keys and funk aren't sounds I get into naturally. This is the soundscape to an air conditioned used car dealership with some guy adjusting his crotch in the background. The driving melody of the first two minutes of the song gets repetitive quickly, and making it even more pronounced with the brass doesn't help. It's not until the sax comes in around 1:30 that I would say I'm attentively enjoying it, and the drug-out wanking over organ synth that follows kills the good vibe I was starting to develop. That staccato brass from 3:15 feels nice, though perhaps enhanced by how bored I was by the time it got there, and moments later the song ends.
...Is what I came up with when I actually sat down and focused on this song with all my heart and soul into it. In passing it's a chill ride. Maybe I expect higher level stuff from my last two encounters with them, or maybe it's weird to me that it feels like there's a lot going on from a distance and not much up close. It's kind of similar to the Mestis sub last category in that regard, though here I can say every component is contributing. Maybe after getting two 10 minute live jam sessions I just have unrealistic expectations for them, but this was a cool on the surface from the outset with minimal opportunity for growth sub to me where the other songs I heard by them offered countless new angles of appreciation for replay. If I just stop trying and have fun with it, it's easy to enjoy.
8.0
Ampharos
Snarky Puppy - Tarova
This is a lot less interesting than the last two Snarky Puppy subs I got. Classic dialtone keys and funk aren't sounds I get into naturally. This is the soundscape to an air conditioned used car dealership with some guy adjusting his crotch in the background. The driving melody of the first two minutes of the song gets repetitive quickly, and making it even more pronounced with the brass doesn't help. It's not until the sax comes in around 1:30 that I would say I'm attentively enjoying it, and the drug-out wanking over organ synth that follows kills the good vibe I was starting to develop. That staccato brass from 3:15 feels nice, though perhaps enhanced by how bored I was by the time it got there, and moments later the song ends.
...Is what I came up with when I actually sat down and focused on this song with all my heart and soul into it. In passing it's a chill ride. Maybe I expect higher level stuff from my last two encounters with them, or maybe it's weird to me that it feels like there's a lot going on from a distance and not much up close. It's kind of similar to the Mestis sub last category in that regard, though here I can say every component is contributing. Maybe after getting two 10 minute live jam sessions I just have unrealistic expectations for them, but this was a cool on the surface from the outset with minimal opportunity for growth sub to me where the other songs I heard by them offered countless new angles of appreciation for replay. If I just stop trying and have fun with it, it's easy to enjoy.
8.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
19th place:
Relm
Hiro Takahashi - 太陽がまた輝くとき
The video is pretty hilarious. This guy is a living bobblehead doll, and they made him pretend to play piano and guitar in sections that include neither. The music is pretty in a very standard way. It feels like a cookie-cutter pop song, albeit in an era and style of pop that I enjoy. Even the brief solo sections at 1:45 and 3:00 feel... I don't want to say uninspired, but low-reaching. They work to keep the song on its trajectory of uninvasive plainness, which is maybe not ideal here. But I can't pretend I'm not smitten anyway. Bit of a sucker for vaporwave source material. You got me.
8.2
Relm
Hiro Takahashi - 太陽がまた輝くとき
The video is pretty hilarious. This guy is a living bobblehead doll, and they made him pretend to play piano and guitar in sections that include neither. The music is pretty in a very standard way. It feels like a cookie-cutter pop song, albeit in an era and style of pop that I enjoy. Even the brief solo sections at 1:45 and 3:00 feel... I don't want to say uninspired, but low-reaching. They work to keep the song on its trajectory of uninvasive plainness, which is maybe not ideal here. But I can't pretend I'm not smitten anyway. Bit of a sucker for vaporwave source material. You got me.
8.2
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
18th place:
gbsfranca
No Buses - Pretty Old Man
A song this repetitive should not be this fun. I guess the music video helped with that, but I really like how the sounds in this come together. The bass and drums both feel pronounced but mellow. The vocals have a neat slight distortion going on. I love the guitar tones. Everything feels good to listen to in a way that I'm maybe more accustomed to with electronic music than guitar and drum and bass. It held up really well over repetition for that. The abrupt ending put me off at first, but it seems appropriately in keeping with the presentation of the song.
I also approve of their name.
8.4
gbsfranca
No Buses - Pretty Old Man
A song this repetitive should not be this fun. I guess the music video helped with that, but I really like how the sounds in this come together. The bass and drums both feel pronounced but mellow. The vocals have a neat slight distortion going on. I love the guitar tones. Everything feels good to listen to in a way that I'm maybe more accustomed to with electronic music than guitar and drum and bass. It held up really well over repetition for that. The abrupt ending put me off at first, but it seems appropriately in keeping with the presentation of the song.
I also approve of their name.
8.4
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
17th place:
Owner
Odd Chap - The Walking Moustache
Alright let us swing, friends.
I got plenty of repetitive, beat-driven subs, and their fates range the reveal. An unanticipated consequence of this category in particular was that my ears are really digging for details. There's so much jazz in the mix that yields intricate nuance, and I'm listening to all of these side by side and flipping back and forth. Something that might land high in a mood-centric category had to compete directly with songs that applied more skill in achieving greatness. It took me a while to get over that and accept that this just slaps. But at this point I'm really enjoying it. The broody break at 2:14 felt a bit odd, but otherwise this is great, and I dig the way you approached the category.
8.5
Owner
Odd Chap - The Walking Moustache
Alright let us swing, friends.
I got plenty of repetitive, beat-driven subs, and their fates range the reveal. An unanticipated consequence of this category in particular was that my ears are really digging for details. There's so much jazz in the mix that yields intricate nuance, and I'm listening to all of these side by side and flipping back and forth. Something that might land high in a mood-centric category had to compete directly with songs that applied more skill in achieving greatness. It took me a while to get over that and accept that this just slaps. But at this point I'm really enjoying it. The broody break at 2:14 felt a bit odd, but otherwise this is great, and I dig the way you approached the category.
8.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
16th place:
shubaka17
Blu-Swing - Sunset
This accomplishes a lot with a little. Aside from her voice and a moment at 2:28 where the brass takes over with some guitar and noise effects, no one component really changes much throughout the song. But they're all quite tasteful and come and go before they can wear out their welcome. The song feels continuously fresh. I love the subtle guitar that joins with the vocals at 0:27 and the arpeggio synth bits like at 1:00. Never found much to say about this one. Just enjoying the ride.
8.9
shubaka17
Blu-Swing - Sunset
This accomplishes a lot with a little. Aside from her voice and a moment at 2:28 where the brass takes over with some guitar and noise effects, no one component really changes much throughout the song. But they're all quite tasteful and come and go before they can wear out their welcome. The song feels continuously fresh. I love the subtle guitar that joins with the vocals at 0:27 and the arpeggio synth bits like at 1:00. Never found much to say about this one. Just enjoying the ride.
8.9
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
TOP 15
Ace Marvel
Aladyyn
BLOODYRAIN10001
Kane
KnightsofCydonia
LordQuas
Made
marmot
MyNameIsNothing
Newcomb
nutella
Psycho666Soldier
schadd
tane
Tangrowth
vanity.
Zarathustra
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
15th place:
Ace Marvel
OmmoKpop - Mr. 애매모호
I found myself in a weird place on this one where I had mostly negative things to say about it but put it back on over and over again anyway. I've grown so accustomed to godly production in kpop. I'm not sure what went wrong, but yikes the accompaniment here is rough. Maybe it won't stand out as much in the reveal with stream compression masking fundamental sounds, but the drums clash with the supporting vocals for an underlying sandpaper effect that's really pronounced any time they're sh-sh-shing or show show show show showing. I hate the timbre of the percussion as it pairs with the rest of the song. It's glaringly obnoxious enough to keep this out of the top 10.
Maybe I wish the bass was less bland and more pronounced, though it gets a little funky towards the end of the rapped part, but that's all really. The song's a stupidly fun earworm with great vocals. I found myself enjoying its company even when my focus was turned to what my ears can only perceive as a blatant flaw in the percussion. I'm thoroughly hooked, just wish that statement didn't come with a caveat.
I ended up grabbing a different link at the very end. I'm not sure if there's any difference in the audio or if the color of the image just mellows me better to ignore what's bugging me, but I definitely like this cut better.
This is like the fourth kpop song I've heard with a pump the shotgun sound sample.
9.0
Ace Marvel
OmmoKpop - Mr. 애매모호
I found myself in a weird place on this one where I had mostly negative things to say about it but put it back on over and over again anyway. I've grown so accustomed to godly production in kpop. I'm not sure what went wrong, but yikes the accompaniment here is rough. Maybe it won't stand out as much in the reveal with stream compression masking fundamental sounds, but the drums clash with the supporting vocals for an underlying sandpaper effect that's really pronounced any time they're sh-sh-shing or show show show show showing. I hate the timbre of the percussion as it pairs with the rest of the song. It's glaringly obnoxious enough to keep this out of the top 10.
Maybe I wish the bass was less bland and more pronounced, though it gets a little funky towards the end of the rapped part, but that's all really. The song's a stupidly fun earworm with great vocals. I found myself enjoying its company even when my focus was turned to what my ears can only perceive as a blatant flaw in the percussion. I'm thoroughly hooked, just wish that statement didn't come with a caveat.
I ended up grabbing a different link at the very end. I'm not sure if there's any difference in the audio or if the color of the image just mellows me better to ignore what's bugging me, but I definitely like this cut better.
This is like the fourth kpop song I've heard with a pump the shotgun sound sample.
9.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
14th place:
nutella
Youngblood Brass Band - Brooklyn
I had a long-ish write-up to this that I ended up scrapping because I think I was just irritable when I made it. A brief excerpt: Lets see what weird things we can do starts to go down the rabbit hole at 5:00, and it's like, it's cool that you can make your trumpet sound like a crying baby and a cow and flatulence. No really, I'm impressed. But what are you doing for me as a song?
Whatever, this is a lot of fun in a bold kind of cheeky way and I enjoyed it.
9.1
nutella
Youngblood Brass Band - Brooklyn
I had a long-ish write-up to this that I ended up scrapping because I think I was just irritable when I made it. A brief excerpt: Lets see what weird things we can do starts to go down the rabbit hole at 5:00, and it's like, it's cool that you can make your trumpet sound like a crying baby and a cow and flatulence. No really, I'm impressed. But what are you doing for me as a song?
Whatever, this is a lot of fun in a bold kind of cheeky way and I enjoyed it.
9.1
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
13th place:
LordQuas
Sonny Stitt & The Oscar Peterson Trio - Au Privave
These guys are rolling on a higher level and their skills are pretty clear. There would be a lot of this classic sort of jazz in my life if I didn't spend the overwhelming majority of my listening time on metal and vgm. I love the cool confident mood it generates. I love the awareness that at any moment I can focus my attention on it and be impressed by what they're doing.
It feels like there are never moments where they coalesce into something memorable--into something that defines it as a song rather than four guys doing their own thing under shared conditions, but it's still a great in-the-moment experience. I do slightly resent the inevitable limitations of 1950s recording quality here. The piano is so quiet in the mix compared to the sax. The notes don't fully resonate and leave me wanting to hear a modern recording that can never be. But it's impressive enough to beat out some heavy competition in spite of that.
9.2
LordQuas
Sonny Stitt & The Oscar Peterson Trio - Au Privave
These guys are rolling on a higher level and their skills are pretty clear. There would be a lot of this classic sort of jazz in my life if I didn't spend the overwhelming majority of my listening time on metal and vgm. I love the cool confident mood it generates. I love the awareness that at any moment I can focus my attention on it and be impressed by what they're doing.
It feels like there are never moments where they coalesce into something memorable--into something that defines it as a song rather than four guys doing their own thing under shared conditions, but it's still a great in-the-moment experience. I do slightly resent the inevitable limitations of 1950s recording quality here. The piano is so quiet in the mix compared to the sax. The notes don't fully resonate and leave me wanting to hear a modern recording that can never be. But it's impressive enough to beat out some heavy competition in spite of that.
9.2
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
12th place:
marmot & KnightsofCydonia
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Voodoo Mon Amour
It felt a bit inevitable that this song was coming, but random.org actually chose to reveal both subs to me back to back as something like the fourth and fifth tunes I clicked play on. You spared me a lot of confusion by shipping different youtube video links for it, while keeping me wondering if I would get four more of the same before the end. I had this album before Walruses were a thing and have heard the song in multiple reveals since, but in so far as the band isn't really my style under normal listening conditions, it was still reasonably fresh.
Yeah, I am definitely enjoying Lögdlund's vocals more than Evegård's. They do a lot to keep it eclectic. Theater mode avantgarde is a twilight zone tag for the ultimate tryhard genre achieving authentic weirdness. Where the last DSO sub felt repetitive for lack of ideas, this one's making much better use of its patterns. As the opening track of the album, it kicks off in such full swing kekekek that I'm left playing catch-up and wondering how we got here as the vocals settle in. It begs a second opportunity to shine, and that dirty trumpet bringing it back at 1:24 makes the whole thing feel like a new experience. The first minute and a half is all driven with this shock value of what am I listen to that holds over repetition if I choose to let it, warming me up to a second pass where I can just get into it without trying to process as much. There's distinct nuance like the trill at 1:30 and violin at 2:12. The song goes places and builds on itself in a satisfying way. Maybe the other DLO sub built up too, but it's not something I actively noticed. Maybe it had more parts, but they felt glued together. The flow of that song was more contrived. Voodoo Mon Amour never breaks from its stride, and that lets the evolution of what they're doing around it shine. I'm sure a lot of the core appeal boils down to this being a peppier number, but I can't escape the feeling that a lot more in-the-moment inspiration went into its composition.
9.3
marmot & KnightsofCydonia
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Voodoo Mon Amour
It felt a bit inevitable that this song was coming, but random.org actually chose to reveal both subs to me back to back as something like the fourth and fifth tunes I clicked play on. You spared me a lot of confusion by shipping different youtube video links for it, while keeping me wondering if I would get four more of the same before the end. I had this album before Walruses were a thing and have heard the song in multiple reveals since, but in so far as the band isn't really my style under normal listening conditions, it was still reasonably fresh.
Yeah, I am definitely enjoying Lögdlund's vocals more than Evegård's. They do a lot to keep it eclectic. Theater mode avantgarde is a twilight zone tag for the ultimate tryhard genre achieving authentic weirdness. Where the last DSO sub felt repetitive for lack of ideas, this one's making much better use of its patterns. As the opening track of the album, it kicks off in such full swing kekekek that I'm left playing catch-up and wondering how we got here as the vocals settle in. It begs a second opportunity to shine, and that dirty trumpet bringing it back at 1:24 makes the whole thing feel like a new experience. The first minute and a half is all driven with this shock value of what am I listen to that holds over repetition if I choose to let it, warming me up to a second pass where I can just get into it without trying to process as much. There's distinct nuance like the trill at 1:30 and violin at 2:12. The song goes places and builds on itself in a satisfying way. Maybe the other DLO sub built up too, but it's not something I actively noticed. Maybe it had more parts, but they felt glued together. The flow of that song was more contrived. Voodoo Mon Amour never breaks from its stride, and that lets the evolution of what they're doing around it shine. I'm sure a lot of the core appeal boils down to this being a peppier number, but I can't escape the feeling that a lot more in-the-moment inspiration went into its composition.
9.3
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
11th place:
vanity.
Melt Yourself Down - Release!
I let pretty much anything slide here if it was tethered to jazz or had appropriate-feeling motion. I didn't get terribly much of what I specifically asked for, but I'm kind of glad it shook out that way? This is certainly not the sort of sound I was expecting, and I love the variation among the better subs here. The furious tempo is an immediate selling point, and maybe the easiest way to solicit bumps over tracks I can't as easily bounce along to. The shouted heavily echoed vocals are a trip. I don't know if I ever fully warmed up to them as an independent thing, but they do a lot to set the flavor of the song. I love the wacky brass and electronic squeals and subtle variance in percussion, like that cowbellish tapping that comes in at 0:58. The drumming is really just phenomenal throughout the whole thing, and the song is crammed from start to finish with little flare-ups of the unexpected for constant gratification on attentive plays. The little developments that never stop happening make for an immersive ride.
9.5
vanity.
Melt Yourself Down - Release!
I let pretty much anything slide here if it was tethered to jazz or had appropriate-feeling motion. I didn't get terribly much of what I specifically asked for, but I'm kind of glad it shook out that way? This is certainly not the sort of sound I was expecting, and I love the variation among the better subs here. The furious tempo is an immediate selling point, and maybe the easiest way to solicit bumps over tracks I can't as easily bounce along to. The shouted heavily echoed vocals are a trip. I don't know if I ever fully warmed up to them as an independent thing, but they do a lot to set the flavor of the song. I love the wacky brass and electronic squeals and subtle variance in percussion, like that cowbellish tapping that comes in at 0:58. The drumming is really just phenomenal throughout the whole thing, and the song is crammed from start to finish with little flare-ups of the unexpected for constant gratification on attentive plays. The little developments that never stop happening make for an immersive ride.
9.5
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
TOP 10
Aladyyn
BLOODYRAIN10001
Kane
Made
MyNameIsNothing
Newcomb
Psycho666Soldier
schadd
tane
Tangrowth
Zarathustra
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
10th place:
BLOODYRAIN10001
wakadori - NightTheater
Wooooooooooooosh this goes goes goes goes goes and I have no idea how they packed so much content into such a short track. I never thought of touhoucore as a genre beyond its basis, but I want more. Relentless ear candy that sadly ends far sooner than it ought to, and with a fade-out to boot. I wish they'd looped more bits and pieces just to fill it out, maybe with some emphasis on a dynamic bass. But this is pretty hype.
9.6
BLOODYRAIN10001
wakadori - NightTheater
Wooooooooooooosh this goes goes goes goes goes and I have no idea how they packed so much content into such a short track. I never thought of touhoucore as a genre beyond its basis, but I want more. Relentless ear candy that sadly ends far sooner than it ought to, and with a fade-out to boot. I wish they'd looped more bits and pieces just to fill it out, maybe with some emphasis on a dynamic bass. But this is pretty hype.
9.6
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
9th place:
Aladyyn
Polkadot Stingray - The Mermaid
This song feels playfully refined. The sort of composition where every note has a purpose. I love how the bass bounces around at 0:20, and it remains one of the highlights of the song throughout. The rhythm guitar is basic but aware of its space. I love her rich but airy voice and the pace she's delivering lines at. She supplies a sense of motion in flow with everything else going on, though I question the value of her rare experiments descending into deeper notes like at 1:22 and 3:18. The lead guitar is free grooving over everything and lends almost as much replay value as the bass. I think 1:35 to 1:55 is perhaps a lost opportunity to vary the vocal melody up a bit, though I'm not sure if I would have even noticed if the guitar and bass weren't so dynamic in contrast. The 10 second rockout at the end is pretty sweet.
9.7
Aladyyn
Polkadot Stingray - The Mermaid
This song feels playfully refined. The sort of composition where every note has a purpose. I love how the bass bounces around at 0:20, and it remains one of the highlights of the song throughout. The rhythm guitar is basic but aware of its space. I love her rich but airy voice and the pace she's delivering lines at. She supplies a sense of motion in flow with everything else going on, though I question the value of her rare experiments descending into deeper notes like at 1:22 and 3:18. The lead guitar is free grooving over everything and lends almost as much replay value as the bass. I think 1:35 to 1:55 is perhaps a lost opportunity to vary the vocal melody up a bit, though I'm not sure if I would have even noticed if the guitar and bass weren't so dynamic in contrast. The 10 second rockout at the end is pretty sweet.
9.7
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
8th place:
schadd
Kate NV - Not Not Not
What a gorgeous array of sounds. It has more of a waltzy sway than a swing and does not not not quite capture the essence of what I was looking for here, but I'm long beyond caring after trying to parse a category where I didn't have a well defined vision in the first place and most songs felt estranged on first encounter. I might be hard-pressed to snap my fingers to it, but the woodwinds and vocals and marimba are too delicious in that playful soundscape for me to blow it off.
9.8
schadd
Kate NV - Not Not Not
What a gorgeous array of sounds. It has more of a waltzy sway than a swing and does not not not quite capture the essence of what I was looking for here, but I'm long beyond caring after trying to parse a category where I didn't have a well defined vision in the first place and most songs felt estranged on first encounter. I might be hard-pressed to snap my fingers to it, but the woodwinds and vocals and marimba are too delicious in that playful soundscape for me to blow it off.
9.8
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
7th place:
Newcomb
Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Summer Goddess
Getting into some swing as I imagined it here. That is one of the weirdest artist names I've ever encountered. This is off their hit 2006 album "Pimp of the Year". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm loving the light punk ethos underlying this. Like the sax player could not care less if he hits all the notes right at 1:37. He's just going to go ham. The pianist literally jumps in the air slamming the keys at 3:11. Everyone feels like they're going hard in places where instinct might rein it in a bit. The music video helped reinforce that a bit and is definitely fun to watch. I imagine a hell of a live show. I'm not really sure what the singer is supposed to be doing with the spoken words, but he at least stays out of the picture for most of the song. The piano from 2:00 really all the way to 3:40 was one of my favorite spotlights in a category with an awful lot of solos. Great energy throughout this song. The volume is really low, but that might just be the video.
9.9
Newcomb
Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Summer Goddess
Getting into some swing as I imagined it here. That is one of the weirdest artist names I've ever encountered. This is off their hit 2006 album "Pimp of the Year". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm loving the light punk ethos underlying this. Like the sax player could not care less if he hits all the notes right at 1:37. He's just going to go ham. The pianist literally jumps in the air slamming the keys at 3:11. Everyone feels like they're going hard in places where instinct might rein it in a bit. The music video helped reinforce that a bit and is definitely fun to watch. I imagine a hell of a live show. I'm not really sure what the singer is supposed to be doing with the spoken words, but he at least stays out of the picture for most of the song. The piano from 2:00 really all the way to 3:40 was one of my favorite spotlights in a category with an awful lot of solos. Great energy throughout this song. The volume is really low, but that might just be the video.
9.9
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
6th place:
Kane
Tokyo Brass Style - Fly Me to the Moon
I'm riding the elevator of my dreams. This is way more appealing to me than Kaye Ballard's first take or Frank's famous one. I don't know, I'm not sufficiently familiar with bossa nova tunes or whatever this is called to say it stands apart, but it's the sort of smooth ride I can easily get behind, peppy and full of life but still completely relaxed. Maybe I should just do a catch-all jazz category next time, because subs like this blurred the line on what I felt I was asking for while falling well within the scope of what I was actually willing to accept. This might be more basic than a lot of tunes it beat out? It's smearing butter all over my brain and just sliiiiding along and I love it. And I think the arrangement and performance are really fantastic. It's one of those recordings where every note feels like it's exactly where it belongs with exactly the emphasis and sustain it's supposed to have. They could change a hundred microscopic variables and I'd be none the wiser, but the knack to feel purposeful in the arbitrary places defines so many great jazz-inspired artists to me, even if I can't describe exactly what that is.
I hated not top 5ing this. It's so perfect to me and constantly bounced back and forth with the track that ultimately took that slot.
10.0
Kane
Tokyo Brass Style - Fly Me to the Moon
I'm riding the elevator of my dreams. This is way more appealing to me than Kaye Ballard's first take or Frank's famous one. I don't know, I'm not sufficiently familiar with bossa nova tunes or whatever this is called to say it stands apart, but it's the sort of smooth ride I can easily get behind, peppy and full of life but still completely relaxed. Maybe I should just do a catch-all jazz category next time, because subs like this blurred the line on what I felt I was asking for while falling well within the scope of what I was actually willing to accept. This might be more basic than a lot of tunes it beat out? It's smearing butter all over my brain and just sliiiiding along and I love it. And I think the arrangement and performance are really fantastic. It's one of those recordings where every note feels like it's exactly where it belongs with exactly the emphasis and sustain it's supposed to have. They could change a hundred microscopic variables and I'd be none the wiser, but the knack to feel purposeful in the arbitrary places defines so many great jazz-inspired artists to me, even if I can't describe exactly what that is.
I hated not top 5ing this. It's so perfect to me and constantly bounced back and forth with the track that ultimately took that slot.
10.0
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
TOP 5
Made
MyNameIsNothing
Psycho666Soldier
tane
Tangrowth
Zarathustra
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
5th place:
Made
Brasstracks - What's Next
Naturally I looked up the original. Imagine sitting through all 3 minutes and 20 seconds of that Drake song in order to cover it. These boys have talent, and they make good music too.
10.1
Made
Brasstracks - What's Next
Naturally I looked up the original. Imagine sitting through all 3 minutes and 20 seconds of that Drake song in order to cover it. These boys have talent, and they make good music too.
10.1
Re: Shad Walrus 2021
4th place:
tane
Black Pumas - Colors
The music video is awkward because it's semi-live but there are scenes where he has no microphone in front of him and others where they are very obviously not playing the part of the song that you're hearing. That's ok. This guy has an incredible falsetto applied just infrequently enough to keep me constantly waiting for more without feeling like it's underutilized. The guitar solo is rad and you can really feel him on the bends, maybe more passionately than the relatively clean tone he's using lets on. The keyboard solo is very in the zone as if he hadn't preplanned anything beyond the instrument swap and is just free jamming away. It's a pretty flawless display of three exceptional musicians being exceptional while the others do their part without getting in the way. One of those oddities where a Youtube video with 100 million + views actually deserves them. I'm thinking the 16,000 people who downvoted it are just salty they will never be this good.
10.2
tane
Black Pumas - Colors
The music video is awkward because it's semi-live but there are scenes where he has no microphone in front of him and others where they are very obviously not playing the part of the song that you're hearing. That's ok. This guy has an incredible falsetto applied just infrequently enough to keep me constantly waiting for more without feeling like it's underutilized. The guitar solo is rad and you can really feel him on the bends, maybe more passionately than the relatively clean tone he's using lets on. The keyboard solo is very in the zone as if he hadn't preplanned anything beyond the instrument swap and is just free jamming away. It's a pretty flawless display of three exceptional musicians being exceptional while the others do their part without getting in the way. One of those oddities where a Youtube video with 100 million + views actually deserves them. I'm thinking the 16,000 people who downvoted it are just salty they will never be this good.
10.2