Lurker > rwlh

106. Daidai Myao - YAMINABE Catfood!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk3SPhkUd6w
@UF8 (3 remaining)
5.5 / 3.5 / 6 / 7 / 3
50

Theres a lot going on here (maybe too much?). Record scratches, xylophone-esque melodies, electronic woodwinds, a constantly changing meter, dubstep, brief chiptune. This is not a song that wants for ideas. Honestly, my favorite part is the hilariously abrupt ending. Makes me laugh every time.

105. The Octopus Project Truck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apMCNOSIMVE
@PIayer_0 (3 remaining)
6 / 6 / 4 / 5 / 4
50

Cute and catchy chippy rock. Despite loving chiptunes, songs like this, which blend chip with rock instruments, are often hit or miss for me. Truck at least has a very nice melody and does a great job at evoking a really nice happy atmosphere. I love how carefree it is its a song that doesnt particularly if I like it or not, its going to be happy no matter what. :3

hope you're ready for a bunch of writeups

108. Arrested Development - Mr. Wendal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_bcVFjFNrc
@MetalmindStats (1 remaining)
4 / 4 / 6.5 / 5 / 5.5
50

The lyrics here are a little too on the nose for me, but I genuinely enjoy the calm rapping. I also love the keyboard plinkety-plonketies at the bridge. They make me smile. :)

107. Deep Forest - While the Earth Sleeps
https://youtu.be/2Zs61WLuHRQ
@SuperbVEVO (2 remaining)
4.5 / 5.5 / 5.5 / 5.5 / 4
50

Super New Age power! I tend to like this sort of New Agey type music, with big chords and world instruments and Peter Gabriel basically losing his mind. The bridge is great, when most of the song drops out, then Gabriel comes back in and leads the song to the chorus. Very nifty.

110. Bring Me The Horizon - Kingslayer ft. BABYMETAL
https://youtu.be/fKyXvNkGQKc
@Murphiroth (3 remaining)
3 / 5 / 5 / 6 / 5.5
49

I find the main singers voice a huge turnoff. HOWEVER, this song is salvaged by the presence of BABYMETAL. With their cutesy Japanese vocals interposed across intense metal, theyre a real treat, and they turn this fairly unappealing track into something really solid! Its a genuine delight to hear them sing kingslayeeeer and I dont why. But I love it!

109. Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4mJXcQaRU
@GavsEvans123 (3 remaining)
4.5 / 5.5 / 2.5 / 6.5 / 5.5
49

Boy this song is catchy. I file it under the generally not for me but it does some interesting things. The singer has a voice like a rock clattering inside a tin can; its not quite like anything else nominated for this topic. The chorus is deceptively chorus as soon as it came time to do the writeup, it instantly nestled itself in my head.

It's "conventional," but only to me. Another listener might feel differently.

You're a real trooper. I assume I'll see you in my next ranking topic!

Actually, I'm pretty sure you nominated the top character when I ranked game characters (Martin Walker). Kind of funny how that works out.

Spreadsheet is updated! For reference's sake, this is what your data will look like after you've been eliminated:



Scores in descending order by priority, followed by total. Bottom row is averages. So if you're curious what your average Unconvention score, you can check the spreadsheet and find out! Remember, it's Emotion, Immersion, Unconvention, Appreciation, and Obsession.

112. Within Temptation Supernova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nb_r18ug0
@Drakeryn (ELIMINATED)
6 / 6 / 2 / 4.5 / 5
47

This is like a mixture of catchy pop and intense metal. It is incredibly catchy. I like the singer. Low Unconvention hurts it here, but I could see myself listening to this again (hence the above average Emotion score).

And we have our first elimination! I feel bad for Drakeryn they were almost the first to go out in my first VGM ranking, and yet they had a top ten song that kept them in play. I appreciate Drakeryn nominating for me even though our tastes might not be the most compatible in the world. :)

111. Taylor Swift - exile (feat. Bon Iver)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA
@OrangeCrush980 (2 remaining)
4.5 / 5 / 4 / 4.5 / 6
48

I wasnt feeling this until the counter-vocals came in. I love the interplay of the different stories the song tells, a sort of he-said-she-said structure. I especially love when Swift comes in with the response of I gave so many signs - its pretty impressive how the song encapsulates this story so effectively. Also the line youre not my homeland anymore, so what am I defending? is very good.

As an aside, why is it a film theyve seen before? That doesnt seem to work as thematically as some of the other lyrics. Oh well.

Place posted...

Woah, can't say I was expecting that out so soon! Or that Rozart mix would still be alive somehow.

This ranking was full of surprises. I was challenged on some of what I thought were my musical tastes, in both positive and negative ways. Some of it shook out like I expected. Some of it...well, you'll see.

PumpkinCoach posted...

also if i may, have some more justhis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTblJbmam4

Listening to this, it strikes me that Justhis is a very versatile rapper. He goes from whispering in to practically screaming in IndiGO to spitting incredibly fast bars in Gone. He's very compelling to listen to in all of these excerpts: rapidfire and focused. I had never heard of him before.

114. Mushvenom, Miranni, Khundi Panda, Munchman - VVS (feat. Justhis)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZInUHwmzN8
@PumpkinCoach (1 remaining)
5.5 / 3.5 / 2.5 / 6 / 5.5
46

My comment for this is hits me right in the POP. As with the prior song (also one of PumpkinCoachs nominations), this is fairly standard pop. I did enjoy the different rappers and vocalists, which mix things up throughout the somewhat lengthy runtime. Also I always laugh at the sudden English GOT A NICE RING TO IT. VVS goes on a bit too long for me, but there are still positive aspects I enjoy.

113. Hiromi Uehara Quartet - Caravan (Live at XI Festival Internacional de Jazz San Javier 2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzokNqymimc
@sergiocornaga (3 remaining)
5.5 / 1.5 / 6.5 / 5 / 5
47

Low Immersion sadly drags down this song. One thing Ive learned from this topic is I often have a hard time with this sort of abstract jazz music, where it sort of flows from section to the next with minimal melody, particularly when it comes to my focus. I can appreciate a song like this, but I struggle to focus on it. Which is a shame, because theres some neat things here. The live performance gives the song a sense of intimacy. I really like the unique-sounding guitar, and the at-times rapid but measured percussion.

116. Basement Jaxx ft. Linda Lewis - Close Your Eyes
https://youtu.be/l77fmzxGJmc
@Place (3 remaining)
5.5 / 4 / 6 / 3 / 4
45

This is one of those songs I expected to like more than I did. I think for me the vocals and the instrumental backing didnt go together all that well, which is a shame because hearing them each separately would probably be a strong experience for me! I do like the cuhlooose your eeeeyes part of the chorus, its very heartfelt and ethereal, and I like the funky guitar in the background.

115. STAYC - So Bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMe1c4UegBY
@PumpkinCoach (2 remaining)
5.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 5 / 6
46

Fairly standard pop, which is enough to net it a score of 46. Very catchy, slick production. Im always interested when these international songs blend English with other languages.

Huh, I thought I had more songs left.

I'm happy you mostly enjoyed your trip down Notable Retro Song Lane.

118. Mori Calliope - Dead Beats
https://youtu.be/6ydgEipkUEU
@Murphiroth (3 remaining)
3 / 5.5 / 6.5 / 1.5 / 6
45

So I expected this to be super cringey, and while I dont love her voice, its surprisingly mostly fine? I like the lyrics and the production quality. The song misses the mark for me because I dont really think its either cute or badass (and I think its going for both at once), but the overall presentation is somewhat unique. And its very catchy!

117. ilkae - argus eyes
https://ilkae.bandcamp.com/track/argus-eyes
@Flamander (2 remaining)
5 / 1 / 7.5 / 7 / 2
45

This was a frustrating song. On paper it seems like something I would normally really like, but I was just incapable of focusing on it, like, at all. I listened to it at least five times, with minimal success. Its got a nice dreamy mood, odd time, glitch elements all things I often enjoy but for whatever reason I majorly struggled with focusing on it. Pity.

NBIceman posted...

Ah. Well, if you were more of a lyrics guy, I'd say it was due to that, because a lot of the writing on that album kind of has the classic rock feel of, like, straddling the line between self-indulgence and actual poetic profoundness. Failing that, though, I imagine it just has something to do with the overall general sound of the vocals.

Rishloo definitely takes some influence from, like, Zeppelin and Bowie, but so do a ton of other bands, and it's not as evident as the Tool and Karnivool sound that's also in there. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily a deliberate thing.

Cool, thanks for the insight. Sometimes I notice "connections" or similarities in music that aren't there. It felt like some of the melodies were indicative of something like, say, Boston, but it's probably just a coincidence.

120. Ludwig Van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor "Pathetique" - 1st Movement
https://youtu.be/79gzdskOGu4
@Haste_2 (2 remaining)
5.5 / 2 / 6 / 5 / 2.5
42

It was weird rating these classical nominations, and to some extent the jazz ones too, because my default is always oh this must be a 10 in Appreciation because its classical music. I had to really fight that impulse: Appreciation is, like the rest of the categories, subjective and based around my own experience. It still feels weird placing such an acclaimed piece of music so relatively low (were still technically in below average territory). I do love piano, and there were parts in this where I felt especially captivated, like around the 3:00 mark.

119. Leslie Wai Paradigm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZpsi9I8kU
@MasaomiHouzuki (3 remaining)
4 / 6 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
43

Nice club music. I liked it more before the dubstep (Im not opposed inherently to dubstep, but I thought it changed up the song in a way I wasnt as into). Its still good at maintaining my interest and generally providing an enjoyable time.

122. Herbie Hancock - Perfect Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJq9_EqcwQU
@-hotdogturtle-- (3 remaining)
4 / 4 / 5 / 4.5 / 3.5
42

I really like the sounds here. Herbie Hancock is always a good time for me; I never quite know what to expect from his songs. This starts out sort of like FM synth and gets even more futuristic as it goes along, with distorted vocals and keyboards. It feels like its out of the 80s and yet timeless in a way.

121. Black Keys Fever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trk7P-9QDyc
@Drakeryn (1 remaining)
4.5 / 4 / 4 / 3 / 5.5
42

Mmm yes this song has those delicious Black Keys signature drums that I love so much. Im not super into the rest of the song, but those drums are enough to give it extra points. Also I like the organ-keyboard riff all throughout, thats very catchy.

124. Native Construct - Chromatic Aberration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ZXHsAoaN0
@FL81 (3 remaining)
2 / 0.5 / 9.5 / 8.5 / 0.5
42

Wow at these scores. I dont think any other song has such a spread!

Lets start with the low end. I could not focus on this at all, hence low Immersion, and it didnt stick with me at all, hence low Obsession. But in terms of scope, this is a song that does lots of interesting things: odd time, different musical styles, constantly shifting in tone and instrumentation. Its a shame its not a song I can really get into, because theres a lot to really sink my teeth into here, and with such a beefy runtime (twelve and a half minutes), I imagine the right listener wouldnt get bored easily. Unfortunately, thats not me, but I do respect what the song does!

123. Tears for Fears - Mad World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZvPSpLxCg
@MetalmindStats (2 remaining)
3.5 / 5.5 / 4 / 3 / 5
42

I like Tears for Fears a lot, particularly what Ive heard from Songs From the Big Chair. I dont really think Mad World is anything all that special. However! The Gary Jules version is amazing and goodwill from that cover carries over to the original. I would say the Tears for Fears version goes different places and isnt as effective to me, but I love the cover so much that it doesnt bother me. This is kind of a weird writeup because its not actually about the song itself, but OH WELL

No worries! I wasn't saying that to shame you - just wanted to comment on the interesting score discrepancy.

NBIceman posted...

What kind of insight do you mean?

You know the song better than I do, so I thought you might have an idea why it felt "classic rock" to me. I'm not the best at articulating musical thoughts!

126. My Chemical Romance S.I.N.G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6Kiw_PuyI
@azuarc (2 remaining)
4 / 5 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
41

Is My Chemical Romance one of those bands its cool to hate? I always lumped them together with Linkin Park in my head. This song is deceptively . . . earnest? Not at all cynical, both in terms of the lyrics (from what Ive paid attention to) and the instrumentation. It seems like its meant to be inspirational, which surprised me based on (clearly inaccurate) ideas I had about the band.

125. Joe Hisaishi - A Journey (Dream of Flight) ~ Nahoko (The Encounter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxffuwMS2v8
@pyresword (2 remaining)
5 / 4 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
41

what is this RATATOUILLE

Then it gets all Russian folk dance! This is a song that kept me guessing. It starts out lovely and slow, then gets more energetic at the halfway point, then sort of bounces back and forth between them. Neat pick!

128. Rehab - Welcome Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJAJbvoigI4
@azuarc (3 remaining)
1.5 / 2 / 7 / 9 / 1
41

Real question: why does this song start out like The First Noel?

Anyway this is a song that for me gets by entirely on Unconvention and Appreciation. Its a song about Normal People and that generally doesnt excite me, but its very effective at what it sets out to do, and its also quite unlike anything else that was nominated. So points for that!

127. Metallica - Dream No More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIQvE5R1tU
@Snake5555555555 (1 remaining)
2.5 / 5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 7
41

This sounds like a fairly run of the mill Metallica song, which actually works out in its favor because I generally like Metallica! Im not too familiar with their modern stuff boy does James Hetfield sound different throughout this. I guess thats inevitable, given age.

Anyway, Dream No More has high Obsession because the song is very catchy. Despite low scores in other areas, I do enjoy listening to it.

130. Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJUIIESgpQ
@MetalmindStats (3 remaining)
4.5 / 5 / 3.5 / 4 / 3
40

This was the only link I had to replace. Not because the link went down, but because the link provided was very low quality and it was affecting my enjoyment of the song. For comparisons sake, the ultimate score for Mercy Street is 40. With the original link, it was 17.

Peter Gabriel is so good at setting a musical scene. From the start of the song theres this captivating and lush soundscape thats like dreaming. His voice and all the effects he gives it (echoes, harmonies) add to this, like, elixir of dreaminess.

Summary: I didnt love this, but I love talking about it.

129. Rishloo - Just a Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqUBALfsL4
@NBIceman (2 remaining)
5 / 2 / 6.5 / 4 / 2.5
40

I got serious classic rock vibes from this song, which doesnt really make sense to me (maybe NBIceman has insight into that?). This is another song that evokes a very strong dreamy quality. I like how it layers a bunch of different things on top of each other vocals, guitar, bass, drums. I mean, every song does that to some extent, but the mixing here feels very on point.

132. Toto - Jake to the Bone
https://youtu.be/8hftXMa1564
@SuperbVEVO
3 / 2.5 / 5 / 7.5 / 2
40

Scores are all over the place for this one. The song is somewhat repetitive, but then around 5:45 it really kicks into high gear with this big rock and roll energy. I would have likely scored it higher if there was more of that in the song, but I did Appreciate its sort of rollicking path to get to the big payoff.

131. Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece of Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJRLkILb68
@pyresword
3 / 3 / 7.5 / 3.5 / 3
40

I described this in my notes as evil ska carnival. A Little Piece of Heaven differentiates itself from the thirty or so other ska nominations with the carnival style and a dark tinge. I wasnt super sold on the primary singer (although Im more into him now on this relisten), but I liked the unexpectedness of the female vocals and the interplay between her and the male singer. Theres a lot of Unconvention here, and thats even disregarding the lyrics, which I already said I dont normally pay attention but these seem very interesting!

134. Next to Normal - You Don't Know/I'm The One
https://youtu.be/yx9z1Fdz1j8
@Raka_Putra
5 / 4.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 4
39

One of my big things with music is I try to judge songs independent of the context, but I struggled to do that here. I looked up what this musical is about and I didnt get any of that from this song. I was still able to pick up on the high emotions of the song, as these three people sort of circle around each other with their own complicated feelings. The male lead (the second person to sing) has one of those classic male Broadway tenor voices; he makes me sit up and take notice every time he comes into the song.

133. Toby Fox - Kiwi Blast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3wuSl7wUww
@DoctorJimmy133
6 / 4.5 / 2 / 4 / 3
39

lol look at these scores. This screams guilty pleasure song. Its exactly what Id expect from toby fox, and in that respect its somewhat underwhelming. But its also enjoyable, as evidenced by the above average Emotion score. A song like this really plays to my love of game music, as this could easily fit into a game as a battle theme.

ZaziGuado posted...

Cloud Cult, and the Light Chasers album specifically, helped me through a really rough time in my life. There's So Much Energy In Us was the hopeful anthem that ended such a personally influential album. I never would've discovered Cloud Cult when I did if not for user LockesRagnarok submitting a Cloud Cult song for Board 8 Song of the Week. He may not come to the board anymore (that I've noticed), but I just want to say I'm grateful for him and SotW because I still consider Cloud Cult my favorite band ten years later.

I could easily see someone having a deep personal connection to that song. The dreamy positivity is very compelling! I was trying to find a video game song that checks off that particular category for me, and while this isn't really the same thing at all, I'm linking it anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTKD0B59Yg

136. Cloud Cult - There's So Much Energy In Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd5E097ZpdI
@ZaziGuado
3 / 2 / 5 / 6 / 2.5
37

The low rating correctly indicates that I wasnt super into this, but the relatively high Appreciation score was because the song was very big and emotional and I felt like the band did a good job at conveying that. I got exactly what I expected from this song: wistful dreamy pop-rock.

135. Aqours - Jump up HIGH!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NziEaNeMekE
@Arti
4.5 / 3 / 2 / 8.5 / 1
38

Speaking of getting what I expected, heres another Love Live song that has all the positive qualities of Sing & Smile!! My comments about the vocal layering and production quality still apply, but this time Appreciation is virtually off the charts. This song excels at what it sets out to do, and everything exists in service of that goal. Pretty impressive!

That's because I said 15 minutes was the cutoff!

138. Kamasi Washington - The Next Step
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ2bkIfHDl4
@cakophon
2 / 1 / 6 / 7.5 / 1.5
36

The Next Step has the highest score in anything yet, a 7.5 in Appreciation. It also has the largest discrepancy between bottom and top ranking. I felt bad ranking this one low. I love how it shows off Washingtons sax skills, and I love how the song is constructed in such a way to showcase them. What really hurt it was how it didnt maintain my focus throughout. Im pretty sure its the longest of all the nominations, which isnt inherently bad, but I struggled to really keep interest throughout. However, I can certainly appreciate the song and the skill of the musicians involved.

137. Hidetake Takayama - Go With
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0zgF7aUak
@dowolf
5 / 3.5 / 5 / 1.5 / 3
36

Some big chords all throughout, good at drumming up emotive responses. Go With fits into the category of songs that make me nostalgic for life in a big city. I could picture myself listening to this late at night, watching the lights swim by as I drive.

140. Night Verses - Vice Wave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wI0Qz4art4
@NFUN
3.5 / 3.5 / 3 / 5.5 / 2
35

I like the overall production quality. Vice Wave feels very alive, maybe more than anything else so far on the list. There are lots of moving parts loud distortion, frantic drums, quieter guitar, a voice saying A man is like a computer. Not much to say about this one but it was fun to revisit it for this writeup!

139. Kamelot - Burns to Embrace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms7oU9LQ55o
@Drakeryn
4 / 4 / 2 / 4.5 / 3
35

This singers voice is very cinematic. I love the overall cadences and notes he brings to this song. Also really solid drumming throughout. Generally a well put together song.

I love sharing Parallax Title for reactions like yours, which mostly boil down to "this is unlike anything I've ever heard and I may or may not love it and I also may or may not be dead inside." Certainly worth listening to at least once.

Variety is always appreciated!

NFUN posted...

this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LEA23R-Nc

Yep!

It's interesting looking back on this and reflecting on what I'd give you if you asked me today vs. what I gave you when nominations first went up. My focus was primarily on covering a wide base of acclaimed retro songs (I asked what you didn't know a lot of and I tried to play to that). Would I still give you Central Park, or Hyde? They're acclaimed chiptunes, but I've cooled on them significantly. I'd probably give you Parallax instead of Central Park.

That being said, I'm glad you mostly enjoyed them! Which is what matters.

142. Koerner, Ray, & Glover Titanic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEuBnGo8Ly0
@Snake5555555555
2.5 / 5.5 / 4 / 2.5 / 3
35

This is another example of might be higher if I could focus on lyrics. Titanic clearly comes from that 1960s era of Bob Dylan-esque folk its rambling and runs on a bit too long, but it has a lot of personality. The guitar work is fairly simplistic, but not in a bad way the focus is meant to be on the lyrics. (Sorry!)

141. He Is Legend - Everyone I Know Has Fangs
https://youtu.be/kqBdpeFi4E0
@Bane_Of_Despair
3.5 / 3.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4
35

I think this song almost gave me a panic attack! Thats normally fine I tend to like music that simulates mental unwellness. The ending in particular is reeeeeally intense (TRY TO CATCH MY BREATH IF YOU JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE) and it works with the rest of the song, which is still intense but just shy of losing it. Pretty neat track, even despite the low ratings.

Just updated the spreadsheet - if you want to see some stats on your nominations, make sure to check that out. It'll be more meaningful as the topic goes on, but you can get in on the ground floor.

144. Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays - The First Circle (performed by Bob Curnow Big Band)
https://youtu.be/PF2Uf4T1PPk
@Haste_2
4.5 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 2
33

Another long song. This one really hits its stride for me near the halfway point, when the music sort of opens up into these big, powerful notes. The song is constantly shifting and evolving its cool to let yourself be taken along on the ride.

143. Acro Jazz Laboratories - THE SHADOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RfwUaopNlA
@dowolf
2.5 / 3 / 2 / 4 / 5.5
34

This feels like an instrumental version of a vocal song. The production is fairly smooth, with jazzy strings in the verses. I gave it above average Obsession because its rather catchy, particularly the chorus (which is where I assume the vocals would go).

146. Brainscapes Organica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjUyUgOuKag
@Toxtricity
4 / 3 / 3 / 4 / 2
32

This also feels very tracker-ish, not in terms of sound but in terms of early 90s-style composition. (Even though it clearly says 2001 in the video image.) I like the bird calls throughout. I like the general feel of the song, a feeling of exploration in a digital realm.

145. Thank You Scientist Psychopomp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK8JgjNxumo
@TheArkOfTurus
3.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 3 / 4
33

This is a long one, and I liked some parts more than others, but I especially the section around 4:45. My favorite part is honestly the spoken word ending starting at 8:15 what a neat surprise at the end of the song! The whole song has a bit of a creepy, off-kilter vibe, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the ending.

I have often had the experience throughout my life of singing a song in my head only to stop and realize I have absolutely no idea what the lyrics are. Sometimes I don't even realize it - I just sing gibberish.

148. MOVITS! - Fel Del Av Grden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnaeImQ0TSg
@SovietOmega
2 / 2 / 5.5 / 2 / 4.5
32

I like the horns and accordion in the background; they go nicely with the laidback rapping. The song feels like a casual stroll in the park. Not much else to say about this one!

147. QU4RTZ - Sing & Smile!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SEiiwiiha4
@Arti
3 / 2 / 1.5 / 5 / 4.5
32

Spoiler alert: the Love Live/idol songs all placed decently high on Appreciation. They know what they want to, and they do it!

This one is pretty straightforward pop. One thing I like about these songs is they layer the same vocal parts on top of each other in the chorus, which creates a stereo sound effect.

(Unrelated but the way the girl on the right is positioned neat the streetlamp makes it seem like shes holding a tommy gun.)

150. ricco harver cyclic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiRCz2NQlJs
@Flamander
4 / 3 / 3.5 / 2 / 2.5
30

I like the vocal clip starting at 1:00 (shorty Ive got a thing for you). The whole song is hard to describe there are lots of layers and diverse sounds. Id say this one is worth a listen if youre just browsing the topic its different from the other nominations. (Remember: Unconvention score does not necessarily measure uniqueness.)

149. Dorian Electra - Edgelord (feat. Rebecca Black)
https://youtu.be/BsjqnYbsDO4
@Bane_Of_Despair
1.5 / 4.5 / 7 / 2 / 1
32

Generally, my scores are positively correlated and normally fall within a few points of each other. Not this one! With a 1 in Obsession and a 7 in Unconvention, Edgelord is the most polarizing song so far (but it wont hold onto that distinction for long...). This is a song that is very distinct and generates a specific feeling in me that isnt super unpleasant. Squeaky vocals, squeaky synths, everything about this is squeaky. One of those songs I can respect for doing something well (in my head at least), even if its not anything Id listen to again.

152. Victor Vergara - Ancient Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Qv9N2CSkY
@Shonen_Bat
5 / 2.5 / 2 / 3 / 2
29

This is the first example of a high(ish) Emotion score and lower everything else. If this were a VGM topic, Ancient Stories would be middle of the pack with a 5 rating, which says that I enjoyed it on an instinctual level, less so in the others. I mostly docked it points because I didnt care for the samples (is this tracker music? I think it must be, right?), but the melody is great.

151. Toe Esoteric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qr452woFLY
@TheArkOfTurus
2.5 / 2 / 3 / 5.5 / 2
30

High-energy jazz-style song. Esoteric is good at conveying this sense of . . . I guess adventure is the way to put it? But not like a typical adventure its more like an adventure of the mind. I was trying to see how long I could go without relying on my usual writeup cliches, so I wont use the term good forward momentum, but let the record show I was thinking it!

I feel like I might have enjoyed the Dear Hunter song more if I was more able to focus on the lyrics. That's not a knock against the song - it usually takes me a few listens to internalize lyrics. The video had lyrics displayed, but I tried to ignore videos when I listened, to not be influenced by anything other than the song.

Also of note: we're out of the bottom ten (twelve, really) and nobody has dropped a song more than once!

ZaziGuado posted...

Glad you found something to enjoy. I Am The Aeronaut is one of the more relaxing songs I know. It's the first song on an unreleased B-Sides album I listen to when I need to de-stress, so I have that association with it.

It lost a lot on Obsession because I really didn't retain any of it, but it's been nice to revisit with relistens.

154. The Dear Hunter - A Night on the Town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVjcsgrDErE
@NBIceman
3 / 3 / 2.5 / 3 / 2
27

I often dont pay attention to lyrics in songs, at least on the first few listens, but I always sit up straight when theres a compelling singer. The vocals here are a clear high point for me: very emotive all throughout the songs changing tone.

153. Port Blue - I Am The Aeronaut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchlswTNyTc
@ZaziGuado
4.5 / 4 / 2 / 2.5 / 0.5
27

Preeeetty piaaaaaaano. This song never stuck with me, like, at all after listening to it (hence low Obsession), but its still a neat odyssey to go on during the actual listen. I like the interplay of instruments throughout; they work off each other in a cohesive way.

156. Five Finger Death Punch - House of the Rising Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXYIxJScSik
@Drakeryn
2 / 2.5 / 1.5 / 4 / 3
26

This feels like two unrelated songs (and some extra talking due to being a music video). The first half has some neat stuttery beats and I like the staccato singing. The actual House of the Rising Sun section has a very different feel, and the singer (guessing its the same one) gets to show off sad, plaintive vocals and more emotionality (yes that's a word shh). Bonus points: I can actually understand the lyrics, which I always struggled with in the Animals version!

155. Gfriend Mago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmBYPXGqtss
@PumpkinCoach
2.5 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 3
27

Mago feels like a fairly normal pop song, which means its pretty catchy and danceable. I appreciate that is does not do something specific, which is change key near the end. Thats normally a pet peeve of mine. So yay for not doing that!

158. Norma Jean Wrongdoers
https://youtu.be/h0I02MAb_3s
@Bane_Of_Despair
1 / 1.5 / 2 / 6.5 / 0
22

I dont inherently dislike yelling in music, but I do find myself going back to the calmer chorus than the verses here. Appreciation is high because the song made me squirm, and unlike the Blur song, I assumed that was the intent.

157. Motoi Sakuraba - Tone Access
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dx8Zir5u6M
@DoctorJimmy133
2.5 / 1.5 / 5 / 2 / 1.5
25

DoctorJimmy133 took the meta approach of nominating non-VGM by four VGM composers. If you wouldnt have told me this was Motoi Sakuraba, I could have guessed it nobody loves that proggy, organ-based mixed meter quite like he does. The song is a little too . . . cerebral, I guess? For my tastes? But its an interesting listen nonetheless, with meter bouncing around like table tennis.

160. Blur Sing
https://youtu.be/YdrFpPJgxC4
@tazzyboyishere
0.5 / 0 / 6 / 2.5 / 1
20

Bit of a jump from 10 to 20 here! Sing would likely be a few points lower were it not for high Unconvention. (Maybe I should have said Unconvention was the wildcard and not Appreciation.) This is a song that hits on a number of personal pet peeves I have in music, but it certainly does its own thing with this landscape thats dreamy and discordant. It makes me uncomfortable (not necessarily in a good way!) but Ive got to give it props for being unique.

159. Jim Johnston - Trust Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7wsu4vpes
@Raetsel_Lapin
2.5 / 4 / 2 / 0.5 / 1.5
21

trust me trust me trust me trust me trust me trust me trust me trust me

This certainly feels like it was plucked from the early 90s. Very moody and ominous-sounding. Immersion score is high because I found the beginning intriguing. Good beginnings are often enough to sustain my interest for most of a song.

NFUN posted...

worth a shot

I like some Tool I've heard, for what it's worth, so that wasn't necessarily a bad choice.

Snake5555555555 posted...

Bit surprised it only got a 0 in appreciation!

The 0 Appreciation score was basically for the repetitiveness. There's a lot of overlap between the categories though, even as I tried to differentiate them.

162. Avril Lavigne - Hush Hush
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7pXzEgYX0Y
@OrangeCrush980
1 / 1.5 / 0.5 / 1 / 0.5
9

I honestly dont know much of Avril Lavignes catalog, but I really liked her voice in this. Im not a big fan of showy vocals in pop music where the singer is just seeing how many runs they can do in three and a half minutes. Lavigne is more understated here, which fits the theme of the song nicely.

161. Fear Factory - Dog Day Sunrise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8H2hbXj6mw
@Snake5555555555
0.5 / 0.5 / 3.5 / 0 / 0.5
10

Relatively high Unconvention score here. This song has a fairly distinctive sound to it compared to some of the other rock I was given. Whereas some other metal Ive heard seems like it has to try hard to achieve this effect, Dog Day Sunrise feels more oppressive and sinister in more of an effortless way. The song is super repetitive which is the big reason I didnt like it but the repetition works pretty well at making this soundscape of oppression washing over you.

Kicking things off...

164. Penguin Grindcore Club Eiszeitdisco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ta-h-D-A_k
@LOLIAmAnAlt
0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0
4

So this song was clearly not for me, but one thing I legit enjoyed about it is the total fakeout of the whole thing. It starts out kind of like dance music, and then it just abruptly transitions to into screamity screamity death metal. I appreciated the bit of trolling (hence the Appreciation score). Not something Id ever want to listen to again, but it certainly kept me on my toes!

163. Tool - Rosetta Stoned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnlhVVwBfew
@NFUN
1 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 1.5 / 0.5
8

This is a long song, and it really comes alive for me in the last few minutes, when it switches to 5/8 time, and then it does something else totally different with lots of feedback, and then it does something else totally different. It seems like Tool saved a lot of their ideas for the very end of the song. It almost felt like a bonus stage at the end of a level.