Lurker > rwlh

Hey hey hey! A little while ago I took nominations for a music ranking where the criteria was non-VGM, aka anything that wouldnt be eligible for VGMC. 164 songs later, were ready to rank!

The nominations were an interesting spread. I got stuff that was adjacent to the examples I posted of songs I like: jazz, pop, chiptune, piano-y things, glitch, weird avant garde. Other noms ran the gamut of genres: country, classical, ska, anime, rap, musicals, choral music, vtubers (vtubers are a genre apparently), film score, and at least three video game remixes. There were a lot of songs with non-English vocals, which was pretty awesome. I also got a crap ton of metal. I guess you folks like metal!

I tried a BRAND NEW HOT OFF THE PRESSES ranking system. I have a big spreadsheet for video game music rated and ranked in order, from 0 to 10 in increments of 0.5. For non-VGM, it felt weird using that system; it felt like I had to train my brain to think of other types of music on a rating scale, which is completely arbitrary and weird, yes.

I came up with a new rating system for this, with five variables, rated from 0 to 10 in increments of 0.5, with total scores multiplied by 2 to create a final score out of 100. Note that these categories are all subjective Im not laying any claim of being an expert in music. In fact, most of these writeups will be terrible! But this is how I chose to rate everything, in descending order of importance:

• Emotion: How do I respond to it emotionally? (This is basically my original rating scale.)
• Three songs got a 10 in Emotion.
• Immersion: Am I fully enveloped into the song? Does it maintain my focus? Do I enjoy being in its center?
• Four songs got a 10 in Immersion.
• Unconvention: If I want to listen to this song, will it offer me an experience unlike any other song? This one is tough to quantify. Its not the same as weirdness (though weird songs certainly get a boost here), and it relies on my knowledge of other music to compare. Basically its a matter of, when I listen to it, does it make me feel a specific way I cant find anywhere else? That exists independent of weirdness.
• Three songs got a 10 in Unconvention.
• Appreciation: Does this song execute its intent well? This isnt the same as is the song objectively good. Its more like, if I can see what the song is trying to do, is it doing it? This proved to be a very interesting category because there were a number of songs that scored low everywhere else but high in Appreciation.
• Ten songs got a 10 in Appreciation! This was definitely the wildcard category.
• Obsession: Do I find myself thinking about it or listening to it again? This category I mostly filled out after the initial ranking, since its often hard to judge if Ill keep coming back to a song or not right away.
• Two songs got a 10 in Obsession.

I sorted the songs by total score, then broke ties in order of category. So if there were two songs that scored a 75 and one got an 8 in Emotion and one got a 7.5 in Emotion, the one with the 8 would get ranked higher. If they were tied in Emotion, it would then be the higher score in Immersion, then Unconvention, etc. This way I didnt have to manually order anything!

To my great surprise and delight, one song got a 10 in every category a perfect 100! I certainly wasnt expecting that.

The last thing to go over is that, as I said in the nomination topic, Im only saying positive things about the songs. Even the bottom ones. If I do say something somewhat negative, it will be in relation to something positive. I dont like crapping on things.

Heres a spreadsheet with nifty stats and such. You can see all 164 songs in alphabetical order. Ill be updating as we go along with a countdown as the songs get posted, as well as nifty nominator stats:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ExYfjmcF6guMR2sXEP5SqtJoOpPVBVfGgO1jdqZ21vw/edit#gid=0

Whew! I think thats everything. Lets listen to some tunes!

Soon!

Okay! Everything is ordered from 1 to 164, so we're basically ready to go. No topic today, but soon!

Done the first pass! Whew!

Now comes the next phase, where I recalibrate all the scores. I am now done with the hard part. Hooray!

I should also mention that part of why this is taking me so long is the "first listen" is often "first two or three listens." Often it takes me one than one listen to establish an opinion on a song.

PIayer_0 posted...

Assuming my submissions brought it to 128, I counted 37 more after so I think the total is 165?

There are 164 total nominations, which means I don't have much further to go!

This is still the first pass. After that's done, I'll even all the ratings out in the different categories. I won't listen to everything in full again. So this is the bulk of the "work."

144!

132.

I see Win the Race placed very well. Have you heard anything else by iteachvader? I actually like these two songs more than Win the Race, particularly the first one, which even rhymes! (No small fear for a YTPMV.)

Hedgehog Stew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnyGSl3K-IE

Robotnik Rock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YapeV5XBgQ4

125!

Boy howdy, some of these songs are really good.

100!

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

You were aiming for the most unique set of nominations and you definitely delivered on that front. It made your list probably the most enjoyable to listen to in a row, as there was never any way of guessing what type of song was going to come next. You also had quite a few high scoring songs; I do feel a bit bad that you put so much effort in and didnt win, but hopefully knowing that I was thoroughly entertained by the experience makes you feel a bit better about it.

Hooray! I'm happy you liked a lot of my picks and that I was able to tick off so many boxes for you that you weren't familiar with, which was my goal. Don't feel bad that I didn't get first place - it was fun to compile your nominations!

Glad you liked Year of the Cat. Based on how the topic was shaking out, I expected it to be my highest placing nomination. Curious to see your thoughts on the others!

92.

If you liked The Silken Whip - and it looks like you did - Afro Celt Sound System has plenty of other new agey world fusion type tracks, though The Silken Whip is my favorite. I'd also recommend North for another somewhat long track, though North is sort of the opposite of The Silken Whip in tone (it's a bit darker and moodier):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtXyJ3DVp-o

Up to 71!

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

179: AGATA - THE CABLE HAS NO NAME:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-YHxSCbYs

There's Agata! I found that song by searching for "anti-music."

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

For the first (but certainly not last) time this topic: You say you dont know what I like, and yet, I keep getting this feeling you know more than youre letting on...

I spent probably too much time picking out songs for you. Not only did I try to give you a lot of songs that aligned with the areas you said you didn't know much about, I also browsed your ranking from last year. (Mostly the very bottom and the very top.) That said, I never try to "win" these topics by placing highly - my goal is always to expose the ranker to new music that they would hopefully enjoy. Huun Huur Tu - Chiraa-Khoor, which I didn't comment on yet, is probably the biggest example of that.

I definitely wasn't shooting for last place with Nothing In My Dreams. I had a hunch you'd actually enjoy it! That and Agata - The Cable Has No Name were probably my two biggest wildcards, where I could've seen you putting them literally anywhere. Same with Chiraa-Khoor, really.

Still 65 in.

Whoa, I'll definitely have to look into Skindred, they seem great.

65 in.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

305: THE ANDREWS SISTERS - STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmjNIq49398

Nominator: rwlh (13/15)

Initial Score: 60.26 [#229]
Revised Score: 61.20 [#277]
Final Score: 61.60 [#305]

(First Thoughts: Well, its certainly an inspired choice. A bit too old-fashioned for my tastes, but... well its different and different is worth points for novelty value.)

Ive never played Mafia 2 or Fallout 76, so I never knew this song was on their soundtracks. Thats kinda neat. Pretty sure Ive never heard any version of this song before, but theres been enough covers (this being a cover itself, but lets not get into that) that its plausible I heard one somewhere a long time ago.

I like this. Its not the type of thing thats ever going to be my favorite, but its interesting to look back at music from a time I dont know a lot about and I do have a noted animal bias. (Not really a fan of monkeys or buzzards, but Ill take what I can get at this point.

...other than bandicoots apparently, but lets not start that conversation again.)

[Final Thoughts: A nice and incredibly retro pick, which is a welcome change of pace from everything else.]

I asked you for areas of music you weren't well versed in, and you said you knew "the greatest hits from the 50s through the 80s." That's why I thought it might be nice to give you a song even older than that. Also, you mentioned not being familiar with Broadway songs, so this filled that niche too.

Clams Casino was more of a "I really like this, let's test it out" pick rather than any specific set of criteria.

55 in.

40 songs in!

I love that version of Eleanor Rigby and part of it is because I love the original song! It's such a wild departure and it truly does its own thing. Glad you at least liked it in a slightly above average way!

Update: 24 songs in.

I would still have all of mine in play if I didn't accidentally give Raetsel a song they already had a documented negative opinion on, so whoops.

@Snake5555555555 Sex & Stardust is super cool! Nice find.

Update: 20 songs in. The plan is to do an initial pass, assigning ratings in five categories, then probably doing a second pass to double check the ratings.

Going to close nominations here. Thanks to everyone who nominated! Can't wait to dive in.

I do like weird!

@tazzyboyishere Yep, up until the next 24 hours or so.

@GameBopAdv
@LOLIAmAnAlt
@Shonen_Bat Did you want to use the rest of your four nominations?

Anyone else?

Keeping this open a bit longer for those folks who mentioned they wanted to nominate.

Up!

I'm not doing a bracket or anything like that. Feel free to nominate more!

128 songs already, wow.

NFUN posted...

fuzzy timestamps

Huh, I had no idea that was a thing you could change. Thanks for the tip!

NFUN posted...

gross

Hm?

Wow.

Up!

Keep it going!

This is filling up nicely! Lots of interesting-looking music (based solely on the artist and title). Thanks for all the noms so far!

azuarc posted...

This is like your biggest pet peeve of all.

It's such a small thing but it almost always ruins the whole song lmao

Also, here are some examples of songs I really like:

BTS - Dynamite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdZLi9oWNZg

Clams Casino - I'm God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY6Juy9aaiY

Miles Davis - Blue in Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLDflhhdPCg

Nujabes - Vem Para Ficar (Lava)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iZDvXbNV9Y

Pulseman - Shutdown (this is VGM but shh)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1WASlZiQq4

Radiohead - Idioteque
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svwJTnZOaco

Salif Keita - Tomorrow (Sadio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2JjiKJMq94

zan-zan-zawa-veia - Crab Mask
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-gDDvf-au4

Note that this isnt an example of everything I like, these are just songs I pulled from my library. Like I said, Im open to virtually anything!

Hey all! Ive done a few VGM ranking topics, but Ive never done one for everything else, and theres a lot of non-VGM out there. Im not as well-versed in non-VGM as I am in VGM, so Id like to do a ranking topic to get some more exposure. Thats where you come in!

You can nominate up to four pieces of music. This can be rock, hip-hop, jazz, classical, country, film score, throat singing, yodeling, atonal noise, whatever!

Here are some additional guidelines:

• Songs cannot be eligible for VGMC. This means anything originating from a video game. Note that this rule means that remixes/arrangements of VGM that wouldnt be eligible for VGMC are eligible for this, but Id encourage you to branch out.
• Songs should be no longer than 15 minutes per song. Theres nothing wrong with long songs, but given that Im probably going to be listening to over a hundred nominations, cutting things down is for the best.
• Please do not nominate more than one song by the same artist. The whole point of this is to get a breadth of music, and thats inhibited if you give me four songs by the same artist. If I like a song, Ill probably look up more from the artist, so you wont have to worry about that.
• YouTube is strongly preferred for links but Bandcamp or Soundcloud are also fine if no good YouTube link exists.
• I will only be judging based on the song, so if you nominate something with an amazing video, I wont take it into consideration.

I havent quite decided how Im going to rank/rate the songs. For VGM I have a 0-10 scale with increments of .5, but I dont have that for non-VGM (which is an arbitrary decision, I know). I will very likely use a scale that includes how well a song holds my interest, how well I think it achieves what it intends to do, how much of a unique experience it is for me, and whether I keep thinking about it or listening to it again.

I tend to have fairly broad taste in music and a very open mind, but here are some things I tend to like:

• Most of the time I like music that evokes strong emotions: triumph, sadness, despair, fear, happiness, etc.
• Sometimes I also like music thats more reserved and measured
• I often like music that makes my skin crawl
• Weird music
• Glitchy music
• Unique beats
• Rock and orchestral put together
• Piano
• Jazz in general

Things I tend to not like as much:

• Sappy vocal ballads or nasal singing
• Screechy stringed instruments, particularly when paired with loud guitars
• Lyrics that rhyme pain and again
• Also lyrics that dont fit the meter of the song by stressing the wrong syllables (note that I dont often pay attention to lyrics, at least on a first listen, but I will notice if something sounds off to me)

There are exceptions to everything I dont like, so if you want to take it as a challenge to find something I like that fits those negatives, feel free!

One last thing: I dont really enjoy doing writeups for songs. Im not literate in even basic music theory, and describing things vaguely isnt fun for me. My writeups for this will be brief and will mostly be One thing I like about this song, and thats it. Dont expect big, detailed analysis, but I will attempt to be almost entirely positive, even with the bottom songs.

That said, please nominate! I dont have a cap on total nominations Ill leave them open until everyone who wants to nominate has done so (within reasonable limits). Looking forward to hearing what you want to give me!

It's my fault, not yours! I always go out of my way to pick songs the rankers haven't heard before, so this was an oversight on my part. Hopefully the other fourteen are new discoveries.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

567: TATSUHIKO ASANO - STROLL MUSIC:

This was the only video game song I nominated for you. It's from Doshin the Giant, a weird little game for the Nintendo 64DD peripheral. I didn't realize you had already rated it for Rate the VGM (you gave it a 2). Had I known that, I would have given you something else, ideally something you hadn't heard before. Ah well!