Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 126: Desired - Lovestory (+ xx results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

MetalmindStats/MaxGalactica/firefdr competitive week:
Yoko Kanno - Song to Fly
vs.
Madonna - Like a Prayer
vs.
Santana - Abraxas

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, August 6 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Desired - Lovestory track list:
1. Sunshine Aerobics
2. Don't Stop
3. All I Need
4. In Love
5. Excuses
6. Broken Heart
7. Lose It
8. I'm So Alone
9. Never Fall in Love Again

Current cycle:
8/6: Seanchan's bonus (Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.)
8/13: Steiner (Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante)
x: Snake5555555555 (skipping)
8/20: MetalmindStats/MaxGalactica/firefdr
8/27: ZaziGuado
9/3: firefdr
9/10: Johnbobb
9/17: StifledSilence/FoolFantastic
9/24: VeryInsane
10/1: FoolFantastic
10/8: Seanchan
10/15: neonreaper/rwlh/darkx
10/22: Giggsalot
10/29: RyoCaliente
11/5: darkx
11/12: Steiner/Giggsalot/jcgamer107
11/19: neonreaper
11/26: Great_Paul
12/3: jcgamer107
12/10: Snake5555555555/RyoCaliente/BlueCrystalTear
12/17: ChichiriMuyo
12/24: BlueCrystalTear
12/31: rwlh
1/7: NFUN/Fluttershy_Pony/ChichiriMuyo
1/14: NFUN
1/21: StifledSilence
1/28: MaxGalactica
2/4: VeryInsane/ZaziGuado/HBJDubs

Future Cycle:
2/11: MetalmindStats
2/18: HBJDubs
2/25: Fluttershy_Pony

Madonna - Like a Prayer > Santana - Abraxas > Yoko Kanno - Song to Fly

In case the name is unfamiliar, Yoko Kanno is perhaps better known in association with The Seatbelts, who made the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack (which I probably would have voted for over these other two)

Song to fly is one of my favorite albums by my favorite composer. Genre-wise, its extremely varied, including ballads, Bulgarian choir, Beatles-esque pop rock, and symphonic/choral pieces. While it is quite varied, the album still feels cohesive. Sample tracks: The man in the desert (https://youtu.be/qUhK6Fj5uW4), Reunion (https://youtu.be/Zddcn3lv9lU), Nowhere and Everywhere (https://youtu.be/x4pD3FR8X68). If you dont have time to listen to all three, try The man in the desert.

Madonna - Like a Prayer > Santana - Abraxas > Yoko Kanno - Song to Fly

Did a first listen to Desired yesterday.

My reaction? YEAH! Is this good in an objective sense? I don't know and I don't care! It was just very much "my bullshit"; the type of thing I'd put on when I want music I want to enjoy but don't have to think about. Also, did I immediately listen to Timeless right afterwards because it was higher up on Spotify's popularity for the band? Hell yes I did! Could I separate out the songs from those 2 albums? Heccccck no!

I wish it were the first Madonna album instead of Like a Prayer.

Madonna - Like a Prayer > Yoko Kanno - Song to Fly > Santana - Abraxas

1: In Love
2: Excuses
3: Broken Heart
4: Sunshine Aerobics
5: Don' Stop
6: I'm So Alone
7: All I Need
8: Lose It
9: Never Fall in Love Again

I had a hard time picking three albums this cycle. I decided early on that I wanted something by "Was (Not Was)" [though I was torn between the mainstream popular album and my personal favorite] & Motionless in White was slotted in as my token "I'm going to keep nominating the types of metalcore I like" pick, but nothing I liked felt fitting for the final choice--if push came to shove, I probably would have nominated "Michael Bolton - Soul Provider", but I really wanted something else. So I kinda clicked aimlessly around Spotify & Bandcamp for a couple weeks, trying to find anything that I both liked & felt would nicely round out my list. Finding Lovestory was almost completely arbitrary; I'd just start somewhere random on Bandcamp & keep cicking the suggested/related albums until I got bored and somehow I wound up here, after a wildly convoluted path that I couldn't retrace even if I wanted to.

i was naturally drawn to the album almost immediately. I'm still interested in odd samples & this album is entirely about sampling and remixing music, so that's neat. It's a genre that I'd never heard of (Future Funk, an offshoot of vaporwave), so it was an enlightening experience. And it was incredibly catchy--I'm really into this lo-fi-esque, fairly low energy dance vibe the album gives off. It was a fun novelty, but i initially dismissed it as being an ill-fitting nomination: too obscure and too questionable in legality (we've had sample based music before, but this feels a bit different), so I resumed searching for a third pick...

...but I couldn't get Lovestory out of my head. It started as "let's just listen to one or two of the songs to get amped up before I start searching for a *real* album to nominate", then proceeded to "let's just take a break and listen to the whole album again", to "uhh... I've been listening to this album every day this week and I'm not actually looking for new music anymore...", and eventually "wait, this is actually one of the most popular future funk albums? And it's on Spotify? And a really short album that shows off a genre we've never covered actually kinda makes sense as a nomination??"

I became so obsessed with this album that (after confirming it was a valid nom) it actually wound up becoming my top pick! Admittedly, it's not the most diverse album--all nine songs share the same style, but that works for me since I love what it's doing. It'd probably be tedious if the album were longer, but the brisk runtime keeps it from becoming repetitive or redundant. It's definitely one of my favorite albums and I'm glad I got a chance to share it with everyone, even if I'm not entirely clear on where I found it.

Yoko Kanno - Song to Fly > Madonna - Like a Prayer > Santana - Abraxas

Oh yeah, we doing another Rank the Albums for Cycle #5?

Santana > yoko > madonna

Seanchan posted...

Oh yeah, we doing another Rank the Albums for Cycle #5?

I definitely want it to happen, but I'm not sure how much I actually want to run it.

Would anyone else be willing to host it?

FoolFantastic posted...

I definitely want it to happen, but I'm not sure how much I actually want to run it.

Would anyone else be willing to host it?

Hmm, well, I have spreadsheets set up for a traditional ranking, so that's simple enough. I've nothing set up for the whole W-L-T thing, and I'm not personally interested in doing it that way. Then it's just a matter of collating whatever narratives people have.

So yeah, unless someone wants to do the W-L-T thing, I can run it.

The only new wrinkle I'd also want to do is to ask for people's top 25 songs of the cycle as well. Not ranked, since I think that's a bit too much work, but I'd be interested to see what that looks like at the end.

Song to fly > Abraxas > Like a Prayer

Santana is so good, and I'd totally vote for them if they weren't up against Yoko Kanno.

A topic for Rank the Albums 5 is now up!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80525227

Since I'm planning on doing Rank the Albums, I'm going to do this one beforehand too, and put my ranking here. I'll also sign up for the user cycle in a few more weeks, once I know I can commit to doing these every week? I wanna expand my rather narrow music knowledge, and I think this'll be a good way to do that.

Desired Lovestory

1) Broken Heart This has an early 2000s feel to it, with some tasty guitar thrown in. It feels like something you heard at 2am when arriving in a niche indie club, right before something more generic came on. You wake up in the morning with no hangover, you go back to where the club was to look for who made it, and it doesnt exist, and you sure as hell cant find out who the DJ was, but that song is gonna be in your head forever.
2) Sunshine Aerobics What a weird idea for a song. High energy, one hell of a bop, amazing introduction to the album.
3) Im So Alone Mmmm, nice brass. I think itd be even better without the anime boy sampling.
4) Excuses Not sure about the sample at the start, but the beat is damn fine.
5) In Love
6) Don Stop
7) Lose It
8) Never Fall in Love Again
9) All I Need Not fond of the vocal range in this one. Feels a bit generic after the bops that are the first two songs, and the only bits I really like are the bridges.

Short, sweet, and very fun. Everything aside from the bottom track was good and even that was fine. Gives me a lot of nostalgia for things Ive never heard before. There's nothing incredibly special to it, and I don't think there's some genius artistic vision but god does it sound good. I enjoyed every single song, something I can't say about many albums. I'll give some of their other albums a listen sometime soon.

Bump.

this was not really my thing. also with the exception of Sunshine Aerobics, some of the most generic song titles I've seen

1. I'm So Alone
2. Never Fall in Love Again
3. Don' Stop
4. Sunshine Aerobiccs
5. Excuses
6. Broken Heart
7. Lose It
8. In Love
9. All I Need

The xx - xx results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
FoolFantastic (14)
Johnbobb (14)
HBJDubs (21)
Fluttershy_Pony (26)
MaxGalactica (26)
Seanchan (37)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: I first really got into popular music in 2008 with the 1-2 punch of GTA4 and Rock Band 2, and xx was one of the first albums I discovered when I finally started listening to that format in 2010. 2010 was also the year I came out as gay, and though none of the songs here are explicitly about queer subject matter, xx casts an intense sense of isolation through both its lyrical themes and sparse instrumentation that I found familiar (so it was no surprise when I later learned the two vocalists are gay/lesbian). The band was fresh out of high school when they recorded this album, but there is a greater gravity here than typical high school angst (which, vocalist Oliver Sim had very good reasons to be so intense; last year, he came out as having been diagnosed with HIV at age 17, two years before this album was recorded). Yet through all the dire sounds, this album also carries a sense of hope.

On a cultural level, this operates as the immediate precursor to the minimalist pop sound that became an unexpected powerhouse during the 2010s with artists such as Lorde and Lana Del Rey. But it's the dueling vocals between Oliver Sim and Romy that set this apart. Even when they are lyrically cast as opposing forces, their voices carry one another. The minimal instrumentation helps keep their voices centered, but the simplicity also makes every track distinct and instantly catchy. Making such an intense soundscape with so few elements takes serious talent.

And then there's "Intro," the little song that could. So many albums start with a short little piece that is easily forgotten by track two, yet "Intro" has become an unexpected cultural force, sitting at over half a billion streams on Spotify (just 2 million shy of Single Ladies by Beyonce from the same year, for reference). It does what every instrumental intro song wishes it could do, capturing the spirit of the album that follows with such power that it stands on its own. With "Intro," it was no surprise Jamie xx would launch a successful solo career as an electronic artist.

Seanchan: A lot of scattered thoughts on this one, but I'll say overall it was an enjoyable first listen. I felt like I was halfway through it before I had the thought that I was kind of enjoying it. But this album is a great example of why I've fallen away from doing my listens while I'm out for a walk; it's just not the way to absorb an album like this. And then, at the same time, I'll say that this struck me as an album that would be great as a background piece; it's got a mellow vibe but just enough little cool riffs and beats to make you want to listen closer from time to time.

Johnbobb: This is a very weird case where the instrumental intro song is the only song on the album I recognized going in. I feel like seeing these guys live anywhere bigger than a coffee shop would kinda be a downer

HBJDubs: This album is what got me into this style of music as a whole, so I definitely have a soft spot for it. I've shuffled around the rankings for this quite a bit over the years, but Intro is legendary and remains my #1 pretty easily.

MaxGalactica: Honestly wasn't a big fan of this one. I like minimalism a fair amount, but this felt more like an indie pop-rock album that wanted to have a fuller instrumental, but it just didn't. Just not a lot for me to latch on to unfortunately, and the vocalists didn't really make up for it either. I wouldn't say this is a bad album though, just not interesting enough for me to want to go back to any of the tracks from it.

Fluttershy_Pony: I think I like this album. It is very minimalistic in ways I wouldn't be normally drawn to, but it makes it a quite relaxing listen. Not one of my favorites, but still quite enjoyable.

Seanchan: Ultimately I never liked this album more than I did with my first listen, where I was able to just enjoy the vibe/tone. Once I started listening more closely and trying to rank things it kind of came apart for me a bit. I found this to be a tough one to rank but overall I think it's a generally good album.

xx track ranking

11. Basic Space (Track #8)
Score: 19 (Average Rank: 9/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#11)

10. Fantasy (Track #6)
Score: 19 (Average Rank: 8.83/11)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb, Seanchan (#11)

8 (tie). Heart Skipped a Beat (Track #5)
Score: 30 (Average Rank: 7/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Seanchan (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#10)

8 (tie). Shelter (Track #7)
Score: 30 (Average Rank: 7/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#10)

7. Night Time (Track #10)
Score: 34 (Average Rank: 7/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#10)

6. Stars (Track #11)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 6.5/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#10)

5. Infinity (Track #9)
Score: 42 (Average Rank: 5.33/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#10)

4. VCR (Track #2)
Score: 43 (Average Rank: 5.5/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#9)

3. Crystalised (Track #3)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 4.83/11)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#9)

2. Islands (Track #4)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 2.83/11)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#5)

1. Intro (Track #1)
Score: 71 (Average Rank: 2.17/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Fluttershy_Pony (#3)

Not completely sure I get Future Funk but it's nice background music at the very least

I'm So Alone
Never Fall in Love Again
Broken Heart
Sunshine Aerobics
All I Need
Excuses
In Love
Don't Stop
Lose It

1. Sunshine Aerobics
2. Broken Heart
3. Excuses
4. Never Fall in Love Again
5. Don't Stop
6. In Love
7. I'm So Alone
8. Lose It
9. All I Need

I enjoyed this. It's just fun, easy listening music. At the same time, I have to admit it's very ephemeral music, like cotton candy that just melts away almost immediately. That is to say that while it's great fun in the moment, it doesn't have "staying power" or "message" of something like SOPHIE's album. So there's this sort of dichotomy in my mind of subjectively liking this more, while at the same time, knowing this is objectively not as "good" of an album in a more critical sense.

Listening to Desired, Spotify linked me to this Future Funk playlist, which is also great fun. Haven't listened to all of it but there was some stuff that reminded me of Homework era Daft Punk.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXbjGYBfEmjR5?si=0c99ebc919404e01

Santana > Madonna > Yoko

bump

1. In Love
2. Don' Stop
3. I'm So Alone
4. Sunshine Aerobics
5. Lose It
6. Broken Heart
7. Never Fall in Love Again
8. Excuses
9. All I Need

Pretty enjoyable album. I don't think there was any individual song that I'd regularly go back to, but it was a fun listen. Pretty well-produced and the vocals are pretty solid too. Not a lot else to say about this one, Seanchan's comments are pretty spot on.

You don't have to include my list in the final rankings since it's late but I still wanted to post it:

Broken Heart
Sunshine Aerobics
In Love
Never Fall In Love Again
All I Need
Lose It
Excuses
I'm So Alone
Don' Stop

Solid album all-around.