Pop Premiership: WEEK 1 RESULTS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Here are xyzzzz_'s comments on the tracks he got, with rankings and win/lose info added by me.

After my meetings this afternoon, I will come back and edit for track names, titles and contributors - look for them around 5. Over to Julio:

"Thanks everyone - for additional fun, these scribbles come in with some added guessing of who might've sent the particular tracks.

KNOW BEST - None. ALSO KNOW - None.

01.mp3 Twilight Singers - "Live With Me" - All this pleading..."Come live with me?" sounds very hollow when the strings happen to be nastier than the booze. 10th Place - LOSE: Tactical nightmare for zenith

02.mp3 Patti Smith - "Because The Night" - Bonnie Tyler? w/ Elton John filling in on piano duty? Just so you know if my LPs were stolen I'd start again w/"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". 6th Place - DRAW: smooth performance by strange_powers to avoid defeat.

03.mp3 Blind Guardian - "Turn The Page" - (Dubdobdee or jel?) "Come turn the wheel/there is nothing to feel/come turn the wheel/come turn the page" gets a ticky. No slow burner, this, very ON from beginning to end, with crunching riffs and pounding-rolling drumming. It sounds like the prog-metal that I haven't (unfortunately) gotten round to. 3rd Place - WIN: Attack! attack! attack! cries jel_bugle

04.mp3 Ceephax - "Rolls Royce" - Drill n' bassy? (I do, just about, remember that one Aphex Twin album that isn't "Selected Ambient Works vol.II") Bob Hoskins isn't having a great time, by the sounds of it. I should be laughing harder at this than I am. 11th Place - LOSE: katstevens on the wrong end of a hiding.

05.mp3 Miss Nicky Trax - "Acid In The House" - (Kat Stevens?) I'm so bad with words - I put in 'education..' after the 'don't need no..' on first few listens. Actually, wouldn't it be a GREAT idea to make a boshing cover of Pink Floyd's 1979 hit 'Another Brick in the wall' which has that same line? Better than its ranking. 7th Place - LOSE: battling performance but a cruel defeat for hauntedballroom

06.mp3 Barobax - "Ali-Gholi" - So given how bad I can be w/lyrics its no surprise that I have a taste for the non-sensical. This is a bit like (sound poet) Isidore Isou crossed with an African Farmer reciting a 'cow-milking' song (I have this on an LP somewhere) plastered onto a boshing background. The funniest track in the whole collection. 2nd Place - WIN: dubdobdee plays with a smile on his face.

07.mp3 Margaret Berger - "Elephant" - Could've been the grower. Purring engine electrics w/casio keyboards I find kind of uneasy with those tri-hoppy (?) vocals, especially at nearly 6 mins - the trumpet carries it nicely toward the end, but I don't know how much I can do with some of these lyrics/delivery. Maybe as weedy as those on track 3, except metallers know how to manage a ";-)" somewhere (?) 5th Place - WIN: inhibitorylinks leaves it late to snatch victory.

08.mp3 Natasha ft Clipse - "So Sick" - (The Lex? Should this be a guess?) Its Natasha 'So sick'. Identified this cuz there is talk of it on ILM's Rolling R&B thread - meant to click on her myspace but didn't until after hearing it in here, therefore I can't say that I knew it...quite like it but its 2 mins longer than it oughta to be, and handclapping is usually a winner but it seems kinda over-used. So I'm gonna put this behind shoegazing in the ranking, but I'm only doing it as I reckon everyone involved can do better. 9th Place - LOSE: complacency costs alexmacpherson's classy side dear.

09.mp3 Sonicflyer - "Sun In My Pocket" (Ben Graham? maybe jel?) "Every morning I wake up" - those riffs are very CONTENT (I'm quite happy to let them be by giving this a ticky), even if the words might be telling a different story. 4th Place - WIN: a good day at the office for player-manager fugitivemotel

10.mp3 Oi Va Voi - "Ladino Song" - Lhasa or quite similar? Don't know this track, love the voice/arrangement, and there can never be enough multi-lingual singer songwriters. There could've been 3-4 winners. I threw dice. Chance procedures, etc. :-) 1st Place - WIN: bengraham's cosmopolitan outfit romp home.

11.mp3 Xinlisupreme - "All You Need Is Love Is Not True" Its the year 2000. Spring-time. Mid-morning on the Docklands Light Railway. The singer (you all know who) of goth-folkeys Current 93 has just sat opposite me. Can't help but to look every now and again. He seems 'disturbed' by this and quickly moves somewhere. I'm disturbed that he is disturbed by this, so I get off at Greenwich, turn the corner to the record and tape exchange and go on to score a flying saucer attack compilation. Again, this is better than the ranking I've given it. 8th Place - LOSE: did braisedbywolves get his tactics wrong?

Comments

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Haha I didn't download the tracks earlier, so I have 0 idea which one mine is!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

I have no idea which is mine either (because I couldn't be arsed to sign up for a YSI account. Also I've never heard of Lhasa, but based on the comments for all the tracks, I think mine might be the winner?

Just checked Lhasa's Wiki entry, and if I'm right, and track 10 was mine, then Lhasa is a very good call, because the biography sounds very similar to that of the artist I chose.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Now I'm convinced I'm the winner... I went to Amazon, found the album from which my chosen track was taken, and at the bottom, in the "customers who bought this also bought" section, it lists a Lhasa album. Go me!!!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Eh, is your boasting not reduced in any way by Julio's statement that he picked the top few by throwing dice?

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Nah, bollocks. Deep down, he knew mine was the best. I sense you're just bitter because you didn't win (the dice roll)!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Bah :(

Tom I think the earliest I can get a track to you might be Fri evening and even then maybe not cos I'm planning to go out! I can't believe how substandard people are about connecting me to the internet (meant to be up on Mon, STILL NOT UP YET). I was going to post a massive rant this morning but didn't have time.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll be sending the YSIs out on Sunday, but if I don't have one by then, it's not going in. Email and nominate something you know I have/can find if you like, though.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I should get my less excellent comments up this evening, and I'll also nominate and send a track for the next player - I think I know what I'll pick.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Martin send yr comments to the gmail along with the track and I can do the formatting stuff I did with Julio's!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Wow, this isn't my League but those bold "LOSE" designations are dispiriting, huh? I have the ph34r now for the Chart Champ results.

I did downloaded these, but have not listened to yet. I shall try and avoid seeing Tom's update until I have done so.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well the idea is for the update to soften the blow very slightly (erm)

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

I was convinced you'd know my contribution after I'd sent it. Phew!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Well I think I came 1st this week, but I'm pretty certain zenith will know my contribution this week.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hahahah oh well you win some, you lose some. Hopefully I will do better this week!

No dice

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

I ws joking with the dice comment. If I were to use dice I would've thrown all 11 tracks and written the reviews according to the chance ranking. Of course, that might've been quite cruel.

When I had that thought it ws wed morning so it was a bit late to do anything about, it ws just me agonizing over what should come over at no1 -- there were several candidates, but I went w/what I thought ws the track I liked the most after my first listen to this compilation.

How I'd rank them

[koganbot]

How I'd rank them, leaving off Track Two, which I already know (would rank it third or fourth but maybe it's that high by nostalgia, since hearing it today it feels rather clompy)(surprised that Julio doesn't know this; was [insert name of person who doesn't like to work with fish]'s only hit single])

TRACK SIX (human beatbox imitating sound of the acid house 303 machine)
TRACK ELEVEN (large stream of sound with romantic movie soundtrack trapped inside)
TRACK THREE (my guess is that this is Sinker's track, though he could be eleven)
TRACK EIGHT (Lex, obv., and either this is a remix/mashup or I have heard this and forgot that this is what it sounds like)
TRACK TEN (love the Spanish vocals and flamenco strums, but towards the end it sounds too much like someone who needs to be sent in for treatment)

(these'd be my losers, though they're all pretty good)
TRACK FIVE (an acid 303 machine imitating an acid 303 machine)
TRACK NINE (a singer who doesn't need treatment but likes to pretend she does)(I might know who this is)
TRACK FOUR (flosses teeth with blip sounds)
TRACK ONE (reverb on the edge of a cliff)
TRACK SEVEN (if this is the lover of mechanical creatures I think it is, I sometimes love her and am sad that she seems to be getting lost in the gloomy atmospherics here)(my guess is that this is Moggy's pick)

Re: How I'd rank them

[koganbot]

Er, no couldn't be Moggy, as she's in the other division. Interesting track, anyway.

Re: How I'd rank them

[koganbot]

Oh, now you've added titles; in the meantime, I hope someone got my Psmith joke, and my reference to Margaret Berger's wonderful "Robot Song"; at the end of "Ladino Song" I really did wonder if they'd suddenly turned into Amy Winehouse.

Re: How I'd rank them

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes, very odd that Julio wouldn't have known 'Because The Night'. I only know one Patti Smith song, but that is the one.

Strategy hints

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Is this an age or geography thing? Patti Smith's (only hit? and) cover of a Bruce Springsteen song, and people don't know it?

Re: Strategy hints

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why I submitted Because the Night: it is a very famous song and the only one of this lot likely to be heard on Radio 2. But instinct drove the decision and a draw wasn't a bad result. Even though it is obviously the best song there.

Given the relative obscurity of the rest of the artists, I feel it's a strategy that won't pay off twice.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I really don't know what I was thinking with my choice - I love it but can easily imagine 90% of poptimists writing it off as a horrid rock dirge. Must plan more carefully next time...

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I never thought I'd see Blind Guardian mentioned on poptimists. Kudos!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Now the results are up and all is revealed, I can admit that essentially, I've played my two trump cards in one go for the very first week. Oi Va Voi are a Jewish band of course (which is an area of expertise where I think very few Poptimists are likely to be able to match me), and the lovely voice on 'Ladino Song' is of course, my old favourite, KT Tunstall, before she became Grammy-nominated coffee-shop favourite KT Tunstall. So yeah, that's my two trump cards gone... obscure early KT Tunstall and the Jew-thang!

Whilst I'm on the subject, Oi Va Voi's follow up album to 'Laughter Through Tears' (which has been delayed nearly as long as Guns'N'Roses' 'Chinese Democracy') is finally due out in April or May according to my insider information. I suspect it has taken so long precisely because of the success achieved by the last album and the subsequent rise to fame of that album's lead vocalist. Replacing KT Tunstall has obviously been a pretty hard challenge!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Also, in case I forgot to mention it elsewhere (unlikely!)...

TOP OF THE LEAGUE, TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!

I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

[(Anonymous)]

Joint top really. A win is a win in this competition, as I understand it.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

oops that was me on another PC, logged out.

To clarify, I'm guessing Tom will only worry about tiebreak rules if there are any ties at the end of week 12.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Kind of. I'm calculating "goal difference" throughout but it won't count for anything until the end of week 12.

Now that its all revealed..

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Well, w/Patti its been so long since I've heard her (oddly saw her in a documentary about New York Punk, Disco and Hip-Hop). I ws thinking that I knew this voice and my guess is really classic, if I may say so.

KT Tunstall! Again, really wildly off, but I like her voice and she sounds ace in this context.

Re: Now that its all revealed..

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes, Bonnie Tyler! Highlight of the round rly.

I'd have guessed Patti but don't know the song, I'd have recognised Clipse but ditto, I know Xinlisupreme but might not have recognised it. My #1 would have been between Oi Va Voi, Blind Guardian and a nostalgic vote for Nicky Trax, with Barobax and Natasha also winning.

Re: Now that its all revealed..

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Personally, I feel that the three tracks she contributed to that OVV album are all vastly superior to any of her solo stuff, but that's to be expected, given that her solo material is so obviously aimed at a mainstream audience. I purposely chose the most obscure of the three tracks... I'm pretty certain I've posted the other two ('Refugee' and 'Yesterdays Mistakes') on LJ before, either on Poptimists or on my own LJ. But I'm really impressed with the guess about Lhasa.. the Wikipedia biography points out that she is Jewish too (like Oi Va Voi) and is inspired by similar Klezmer and folk influences. I must hunt down some of her stuff.

Re: Now that its all revealed..

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

I should state that the documentary I saw Patty in ws broadcast last monday -- she ws talking about how expensive it is to get an apartment in New York at an affordable price.

As for Lhasa I started with her alst album "The Living Road" - beautiful, beautiful record. Comes in with the odd unexpected surprise, arrangement-wise (the electronics on "Anywhere on this Road").

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

hah! Good old Blind Guardian! They have dragons on their album covers!!

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

So does bengraham get a better goal difference than dubdobdee, for instance?

I'd liked fugitivemotel's track...

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

...even before i knew Yulia was from Barnaul!

Will try to see you guys here later this month.

Re: I'd liked fugitivemotel's track...

[fugitivemotel.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

If it had been me...

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

KNOW BEST - Patti Smith
ALSO KNOW - None

1. Barobax
2. Maggie Berger
3. Oi Va Voi

Then a bit of a gap to the other winners. Blind Guardian probably 4th best and either Nicky Trax or Sonicflyer grabbing the final winner's spot.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Is the Twilight Singers song the original, or the Massive Attack version? The Massive Attack one is better, IMO.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Massive Attack's version is the original.

pedantically

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

it is BarobaX, i believe

http://www.barobax.com/

i think ben's was a worthy winner -- it already feels like i've known it forever