Pop Premiership Week 6 RESULTS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of jel_bugle! Just a reminder: if you're in the PP, you need to be sourcing a track for braisedbywolves. If you're in the Chart Championship, you need to be finding something for lockedintheatti. Find out more about them here.

And now, over to Jel!

"I thought this was a good set of songs, and it was hard to place them,
especially the ones in the middle! Anyway, thanks!

01. Haysi Fantayzee - "John Wayne Is Big Leggy": This is a bit silly, I like it. Are they Japanese? It sounds like a cross between Big & Rich and Bananarma. I reckon the guy was probably in a garage rock band when he was younger, he sounds a bit like the singer from Polysics. Nice instrumental breakdown toward the end, riding over the plains, yee-haw. 3rd Place - WIN - bengraham back to winning ways.

02. The Gentle People - "Mr Whiskey": Cheesy French pop. I've always thought French is a hard language to sing in. Nice faux accordion or maybe it's a real one, I'm always hearing accordions in songs. I liked it when they briefly bashed on cups. 6th Place - DRAW - low-intensity match for dubdobdee ends with honours even.

03. Behorkestrar Bakija Bacik from Vranje – “Pobjednicki Cocek”: We're in the dessert, I can see cacti! This is like the music that Enid listens to in Ghost World (sorry about the out-of-date cultural reference). I would have liked it more if they has wigged out a little more but kept the rhythm going, toot your horns like you just don't care. 8th Place - LOSE - lack of flair proves hauntedballroom's undoing.

04. LuxEterna - "Last Flash": Always start a metal song with the sound of something breaking! These dudes are definitely from the Norse lands, are they signed to Nuclear Blast records? I bet they look moody in their album pictures. I can't tell if this is a modern recording or something a little older, the click click bass would suggest modernity. I like this one, the singer gets a lot of time off. 4th Place - WIN - fans rejoice as katstevens records overdue first win.

05. The Sounds - "Song With A Mission": It's the Sounds! They are from Sweden! I have this album, I think this means you get a draw dude. (Editor's note: No, 7th is a lose.) 7th Place - LOSE - over-familiar tactics spell trouble for zenith.

06. Nick Didkovsky - "Plague": Jazz Metal!! I think this is probably the only jazz metal band; it's not terrible or anything, just not really my thing. 9th Place - LOSE - xyzzzz_'s side fails to gel.

07. Ashlee Simpson - "Coming Back For More": Teen pop, sounds a bit like Lindsay Lohan et al. I like this, actually is it Ashlee Simpson? Anyway, in the video she is hanging out with her pals at the mall, and then intermittently we see her rocking out on the stage with a backing band of hoary old rockers, then at the end some preppy guy gets dumped. The world is a beautiful place. It's a bit like an American Puffy Ami-Yumi, if such a cultural re-exchange could be possible. 2nd Place - WIN - alexmacpherson raises his game to romp home.

08. The Bags - "Cavemen Rejoice": The bass player has a mustache! Is it Manowar? I have their greatest hits album, they look kinda like cavemen on the cover. There's a bit where the band break it down, and the singer doesn't ab-lib. Rock school 101, when you break it down the singer ad-libs, he should be saying "ah yeah, cavemen!!" "hunting in packs" "skin 'em alive" and stuff like that. I did this myself and the song was better. Still not bad! 5th Place - WIN - strange_powers sneaks a narrow win to remain unbeaten.

09. PJ Harvey - "Down By The Water": It's Auf Der Mar! Does that mean another draw? This is a bit ponderous. In a way it reminds me of Belly, I feel like listening to them now, "my Gepetto, lalala"…. 10th Place - LOSE - no fluidity in fugitivemotel's play: a third straight defeat.

10. Utada - "Kremlin Dusk": Yay!! Female fronted euro goth metal! It's gonna soar, you just know it. I like the baroque/mandolin/harpsichord thing. I bet she wears a Basque, gothic cross and purple velvet dress, and that the main guitarist is bald and wears a long black leather coat. I like this a lot and I would buy the album, probably. 1st Place - WIN - big win sends inhibitorylinks top.

11. Lightning Bolt - "Riff Wraiths": Oh, kinda nu-metal. It's a bit of a dirge without any of the fun elements of metal – melody, silly lyrics, obvious guitar solos, fist raising power. Earnest kids who shoulda stayed in their garage. 11th Place - LOSE. - braisedbywolves should have stayed at home.

Comments

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Oh noes!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The best revenge :D

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Though like Lindsay, I wanna come FIRST one of these days.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This was a very good set of tracks I thought (only one bad one, and I already knew it).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Incidentally the Auf Der Mar track isn't Auf Der Mar. (It's also the one I hate).

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

It looks like I got a win! Still unbeaten, suckas.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Fortunately I have a fiver on me getting my only three points off alexmacpherson, the odds on which will be enough for me to retire on.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I can't tell at all which mine was, but none of the candidates are in the top half of the draw :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I have no idea which one is mine, as I can't remember what I submitted! Oh well.

If it had been me...

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

This was a good bunch on the whole. Most of the PP managers upped their game from last week's low point.

I know what #1 is - but it's one of those songs which, despite being a hit, never really permeated my brain at the time. So it felt like I was hearing it for the first time properly here. On that basis it would have been one of my winners.

I recognised PJ Harvey and The Sounds.

My other winners: #4, #7, #8 and possibly #2.

Re: If it had been me...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I thought last week's and this week's have been high points - don't think this is much to do with Jel's and Lex's tastes (though I respect both their tastes hugely so maybe it is) but more to do with the 'standard of play' improving as the game continues!

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I thought there was some good stuff here, but it's the first time I've had multiple recognitions -- no.1, no. 3 (this is the track Villalobos rips Fizheuer thingy from isn't it? - the mp3 was being ysi'd in the Bad Place for a while), no. 5, no. 9 (haven't heard it for years, it's still rub!).

no. 2 reminded me a bit of Position Normal; no. 6 of John Zorn.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I guess this means my taste is reasonably close to what people THINK Jel's taste is.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

ooh if someone could send me no 3 by itself that'd be v much appreciated...

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Also this is the second week where I haven't heard a winning track because I can't wma files to work on my computer at home!

My winners and whiners:

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Some good stuff here - it worked well as a 'mix' too, which they don't always.

Knew the Hayzi, which would have been in a winning position but could only have got a draw. Also knew the PJ Harvey - can't stand it though, 11th place for that.

So the winners would have been: Ashlee (excellent), The Sounds (endearing power-pop), the fiddlers at Track 3 (slow but haunting), and then probably Lux Eterna and the Bags with the Gentle People getting a draw. On another day Lightning Bolt might have got the draw but I know the style too well now, I think. The Jazz Metal was interesting but I dunno if it works as well as actua metal, and the Utada is not my cup of goth, though not actually bad.

Re: My winners and whiners:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Surprised you hadn't heard the Ashlee! Though not sure if it was ever a single. Have you heard 'Tony The Beat' by the Sounds? I have the album but haven't listened to it yet, because TTB (and accompanying Rex the Dog mix) is one of those songs which is kind of perfect, but in that sort of way when you DON'T want to investigate the band any further, because surely they can only disappoint.

I love love love love that Peej song but it was a brave choice, I would have assumed most Poptimists knew it already.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

haha in your FACE Lightning Bolt! so sick of the love they're getting.

the Utada here isn't Utada Hikaru is it?

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Has it picked up noticably in the last few years? I only know them as Noize Band #00001

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Huzzah I has picked a winner! LuxEterna are from Russia and are very silly indeed.

Without Me You're Nothing At All!

[koganbot]

Man, I've got to get up way early if I want to play this game. Jeez. Listen guys, without me you're nothing at all. This post is not for you, it's only for people who get out of bed when I do, it's not for the true! In any event, I "guessed" (no guess, it was a certainty) which one was Lex's pick, but missed Mark's (thought he was Behorkestrar Bakija Bacik from Vranje). I correctly guessed which was Julio's but didn't tell anybody my guess so I get no kudos for that.

I knew two of these (Ashlee and Sounds) and could have known the Lightning Bolt since I own it (haven't given them enough of a listen, obviously, but think they'll be worth the time when I have the time) and should have known the PJ Harvey since I recognized her but wasn't sure of the song, and the CD of mine I think it was on has gone missing. In any event, this was the best set so far; of the two I already knew, the Sounds track is one of the most delightfully ridiculously earnest songs ever, and the fact that it's half ironic (or totally confused) and wonderfully tuneful doesn't make it any less earnest and wonderful. When I played these, "Coming Back For More" at first sounded pedestrian on the heels of Nick Didkovsky's chopped-up swing - producer John Shanks is no rhythm star - but of course the ache and spirit of Ashlee's singing and the beauty of the melody then took over, as did the Shanks' pretty guitar tones. This is an excellently representative Ashlee song, and I love it, but it's not even in my Ashlee top ten. So, people, if you're listening, there's so much more to her you haven't seen.

How I'd have ranked them, minus those two:

Winners
--Behorkestrar Bakija Bacik from Vranje: Beautiful tuba oompah and horn chording from I'm not sure where (wherever Vranje is, I suppose; also suppose it's not in Mexico, though from the sound it could have been); clarinet sneaks some jazz in.
--Nick Didkovsky: Hornfest continues, with sliced-and-diced swing and an amped-up rock guitarist who's not shy.
--The Bags: Grunt loudly and carry a big club. "We'll attack those cavemen across the stream." Singer sounded very familiar - was thinking he might be someone obvious like Farner or Gillan, and was kicking myself for blanking on who it was, fortunately it turned out to be a total stranger.
--PJ Harvey: I once described this woman as "Chrissy Hynde having a cow." I can't say her labor pains here are subtler than usual, but the agonized crawl across the slow beat grabs me, and the infantile whispering pulls me in. I feel like a sucker for liking this, however. [Though when the Kelly Clarkson single comes out TOMORROW (remixes are already swarming the Web), this track and will be entirely moot.]

Draw:
--The Gentle People: Comes too close to cutesy, but the singer's gentleness - appropriaste given the band name - carries it. Reminds me of Arling & Cameron.

Losers (though as you'll see I was enamored of the lot of them):
--Haysi Fantayzee: Jumps head first into cutesiness but since the cutesiness is a justification for a random tour through any number of early '60s styles, I'm happy. Cowboy and Indian story; I guessed the performers were gay Germans, which isn't that far off, is it?
--Utada: "Nevermore will the raven come to bother me." Deserves its win for that line alone; also for the warm keybs and the passionate Madonna-wannabe on vocals.
--Lightning Bolt: Free drumming melds into hardcore punk. Maybe there's a more precise name for this subgenre. Rockcore?
--LuxEterna: Forceful prog metal that's simultaneously heavy and busy and drama queeny. Not finding my way into emotion here, but this is damn good for my final spot.

Re: Without Me You're Nothing At All!

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

yay I think I have a point from koganbot :-D

To everyone else - if you liked Nick's track you should know he's got an album out on the POGUS label:

http://www.pogus.com/21042.html

By an amazing coincidence I read about this album just last week, a few days after sending freaky trigger that track (which is all I'd heard from him) so I might just have to check it out.

Thought jel ws the hardest one to choose a track for so far - everybody else has been v easy, literally 1 min to think about. Damn :-(

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

YESSSSSSSS! Get in there my son!* Obviously, I went off on holiday for 10 days, and so submitted this track for Jel (and next week's one for Mr. Bywolves) before I left the country. I knew that Hayzi was a risky move, I knew that probably a fair number of people would know it, but I took a calculated gamble, on the basis that I wouldn't be unhappy with a draw, yet fairly confident that if Jel didn't know it, it would probably be a winner... it's quite a catchy song.

* Am I taking this too seriously?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Haha a good bit of post-match rationalisation - this was meant to be for Inhibitorylinks but I got the schedule wrong so it was Jel up this week - wonder if Mr Links would have liked it?

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I coulda sworn that PJ Harvey song is on the Auf Der Mar album!!

So, that's the much hyped Lightening Bolt??

Think I will go and buy some Utada offa Amazon.

Laters!

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Exodus, the album the Utada track comes from, is excellent, especially the title track. I was going to submit a different Utada track (Travelling, which I adore) for the chart championship two weeks ago. I think in retrospect I should have.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I don't even like the Lightning Bolt - cynical tactics fail to pay off!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I am always amazed to find out that there are people who don't know Hayzi Fantayzi or however you spell them! Or,for that matter, John Wayne.

I knew nearly all of these - probably the first such time this has happened.