Irish Aris's Walrus: The Reveal

Irish Aris

In 16th place, submitted by

Osh

, Stereolab-Brakhage (from the album Dots and Loops)

Third and final appearance of Stereolab in this Walrus. There is a bit of a paradox here: although it is the lowest scoring Stereolab song, it is the one that intrigues me the most. I think it just got unlucky being in a very strong category/playlist. The song itself isn’t exactly what I would normally think a great opener. This kind of mid-tempo rhythm can sometimes be easy to forget. Not here though, as there many interesting elements that I have associated with experimental electronic music. The one thing that I didn’t like was the extended use of the vibraphone (or is it a marimba? I always confused the two): it’s a sound that I find difficult to warm up to and I had the same issue when I went through a jazz phase in the early noughties. Nevertheless, a very interesting song and probably the Stereolab album I’m more interested to explore.

Irish Aris

In 6th place, submitted by

Deleted User

, Interpol-Untitled (from the album Turn On The Bright Lights)

Another interesting selection. I have their debut album but didn’t find it particularly good at the time (I think it was a couple of years before I went through my 00s rock phase) so I didn’t bother with them any further and I never revisited that album. Probably high time that I do, because I really like what I hear. The guitar work on this one is excellent and I like how the mood changes throughout the song especially in the instrumental parts – the long outro is really good.

Irish Aris

In 17th place, submitted by

Sawduck

, Led Zeppelin-Good Times Bad Times (from the album Led Zeppelin I)

I don’t consider myself a big fan of the Led Zeppelin sound, this 70s hard rock music doesn’t appeal to me at all. But I like Robert Plant’s voice, I think one of the best voices in rock – and the rest of the band are very good musicians, so a classic case of admiring them but not loving them. I have heard this one before but not in many years. A nice short song, which opened their debut album and gives a good preview of things to come.

Irish Aris

In 5th place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Everything Everything-Cough Cough (from the album Arc)

What a belter of a song and a cracking opening track!! Any song that is structured around drums gets my full attention straight away and for 45 seconds this song has nothing else but drums and voice. Even in the rest of the song drums are left right and center with all the other instruments being supportive of this great rhythmic track. This is a song that will be stuck on repeat for years to come. I have never listened to anything from Everything Everything but not only I plan to get all their discography but also see them live when they will come to Dublin next year (coronavirus permitting of course). It came very close to break the undisputed top 3 (more on that in a few minutes) and that says a lot.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 5th place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Everything Everything-Cough Cough (from the album Arc)

What a belter of a song and a cracking opening track!! Any song that is structured around drums gets my full attention straight away and for 45 seconds this song has nothing else but drums and voice. Even in the rest of the song drums are left right and center with all the other instruments being supportive of this great rhythmic track. This is a song that will be stuck on repeat for years to come. I have never listened to anything from Everything Everything but not only I plan to get all their discography but also see them live when they will come to Dublin next year (coronavirus permitting of course). It came very close to break the undisputed top 3 (more on that in a few minutes) and that says a lot.

Saw them live the last time they played in Dublin there a couple of years ago. Absolutely phenomenal gig, great energy to them.

Irish Aris

In 18th place, submitted by

JohnGreenFan

, All Time Low-Weightless (from the album Nothing Personal)

I don’t mind the occasional pop punk in my playlists, I like the energy that bands like All Time Low have. This falls under this category, but I wasn’t really excited about it – I liked it when I was listening to it but it didn’t stay long with me, I kept forgetting about it. But I think they are promising so I will check them out a bit further.

Irish Aris

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Saw them live the last time they played in Dublin there a couple of years ago. Absolutely phenomenal gig, great energy to them.

I can imagine!!
I will go as far to say that this was the greatest new discovery of the whole Walrus, fair play!!

Irish Aris

OK, so we don't have a 4th place. As I mentioned earlier we had a song that was nominated twice and occupies the 3rd spot.
7 people now waiting to hear their results:
Green&Red
Kolido
lassykk
Necro
s1ippy
ShaneU
the purple tin

ShaneU

Wow last 7 so this is what it feels like

Irish Aris

In 19th place, submitted by

Green&Red

, Catfish and the Bottlemen-Homesick (from the album The Balcony)

I liked the beginning and the end of this one, the first 45 seconds have a very nice quieter feel and the ending also falls back to the same pattern. Not too excited about the middle part, with the first chorus the song moves to standard indie rock territories, and I didn’t find it as interesting.

Irish Aris

In 3rd place, submitted by

Necro

and

Kolido

, Guns’n’Roses-Welcome to the Jungle (from the album Appetite for Destruction)

You know where you are? You're in the jungle baby, you're gonna die!! As album openers go, you can’t get much better than Welcome to the Jungle. No wonder that 2 people opted for it. A track that sets the tone for what is a superb album. Axl Rose is at his best here (and in the Use Your Illusion albums) and in full control and understanding of how things need to be done. And that change in tempo around 3:20 is fantastic.

Irish Aris

In 20th place, submitted by

the purple tin

, Bruce Springsteen-Nebraska (from the album Nebraska)

My preference on great openers is usually songs that are uptempo and set a dynamic feel for what comes next. Nebraska isn’t one of these songs. And it wouldn’t be my favourite type of Bruce Springsteen song either. This falls more to the storytelling, Americana/folk side of the Boss. He sings with only the company of a guitar and harmonica. I didn’t really care about the song to be honest and I wouldn’t consider it a great opener per se – although I understand that the whole Nebraska album is like that, in which case it is probably a great opener for that album.

Irish Aris

In 2nd place, submitted by

ShaneU

, Yazoo-Don’t Go (from the album Upstairs at Eric’s)

The host of our next Walrus finishes on a high with an absolute classic! That synthesizer intro is one of the most iconic 80s melodies. In the past I have used this song as a ringtone and/or alarm in my mobile. Everything that Vince Clarke did in the 80s (with Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and even the short-lived Assembly) is quintessential 80s. And in Alison Moyet he found another great singer to interpret his music. 3 minutes of pure pop perfection!!

Irish Aris

In 21st place, submitted by

s1ippy

, Devil Townsend-Seventh Wave (from the album Ocean Machine: Biomech)

Someone had to take the last spot in this very competitive list and Devil Townsend had the disadvantage of being somewhat outside of my interests. The spoken word intro and the instrumental beginning were promising. But as soon as the vocals came in the song lost me: they sounded slightly distorted in some parts, and the general harshness made them get lost in the mix. As an instrumental this would have fared better, but as things stand it couldn’t avoid the last place.

Irish Aris

In 1st place, submitted by

lassykk

, Pearl Jam-Once (from the album Ten)

When grunge exploded in the early 90s I found Pearl Jam’s Ten album more interesting than Nirvana’s Nevermind. I already knew Alive before I bought and listened the album. Interestingly Once starts after 40 seconds of intro which actually is a part of the song Master/Slave. But once (pun intended) it starts it never takes the foot of the pedal. The guitar riff is among one of the best that Pearl Jam have done and everything works perfectly – including that wonderful bridge with the few spoken words around 2:40. And I consider this one of the finest vocal performances of Eddie Vedder. I will go as far as to say that Once, Evenflow and Why Go are my 3 favourite Pearl Jam songs (more so than the obvious singles Alive and Jeremy). I admit that I didn’t follow them for long (only for the first 2 albums, then I moved to poppier territories and their sound moved away from grunge to more “standard” rock) but those 2 first albums -and Ten in particular – are really great music.

Irish Aris

Which means our winner (for what I think is a record 4th time) is Also Starring LeVar Burton!!
LeVar's appearances in Walruses at the moment are like Ireland's Eurovision in the 90s: win after win. I was expecting him to do well - based on his own Walrus it looked like we had lots of common ground, and his selections were spot on!!

On the other end of the table, JohnGreenFan takes the wooden spoon. I think it was their first ever Walrus participation - but don't think about too much, it was simply a case of our music tastes not being compatible and I'm sure that they will have done very well in many other Walruses


Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Total Points
Also Starring LeVar Burton 14 20 11 19 21 8 17 110
phatkev 18 6 21 9 20 13 12 99
Kolido 5 15 8 13 16 21 19 97
lassykk 1 14 4 21 14 18 21 93
Necro 21 12 5 4 19 11 19 91
s1ippy 16 19 10 16 12 16 1 90
beakerjoe 15 21 17 10 9 4 13 89
JP Liz V1 12 17 16 12 10 9 10 86
Shane U 11 11 9 14 13 5 20 83
Mustang Shelly 6 4 13 20 3 17 14 77
Homer J. Fong 20 10 6 17 5 3 16 77
fixXxer 4 18 15 5 17 10 7 76
Zaph 19 9 14 11 1 7 15 76
Electric Nitwit 8 3 12 18 2 19 11 73
the purple tin 10 2 18 6 11 20 2 69
Osh 9 8 19 1 8 14 6 65
Sawduck 7 16 1 7 15 12 5 63
Green&Red 13 7 7 8 6 15 3 59
Gru 17 5 20 2 4 1 9 58
RasTa 3 1 2 15 18 6 8 53
JohnGreenFan 2 13 3 3 7 2 4 34

Tauriel

Congrats LeVar on another victory.

Thank you Aris for running this walrus.

Really happy to finish mid-table considering the start that I had

Irish Aris

and the final playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUaRXycpvvkG0-r2YAfiDJFQxOEkViIeq

I want to thank you all for participating. Irrespective of points an places you all contributed to the main purpose which was to help me discover lots of great music!!! Fair play to all of you's!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Zaph

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 20th place, submitted by

the purple tin

, Bruce Springsteen-Nebraska (from the album Nebraska)

My preference on great openers is usually songs that are uptempo and set a dynamic feel for what comes next. Nebraska isn’t one of these songs. And it wouldn’t be my favourite type of Bruce Springsteen song either. This falls more to the storytelling, Americana/folk side of the Boss. He sings with only the company of a guitar and harmonica. I didn’t really care about the song to be honest and I wouldn’t consider it a great opener per se – although I understand that the whole Nebraska album is like that, in which case it is probably a great opener for that album.

One of my absolute favourite Springsteen songs. It's grim as fcuk, but about as perfect a song as you'll find for something so stripped back.

Irish Aris

And don't forget people, we head this way for Shane's Walrus which starts in less than an hour!!

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058102343

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Cheers Aris. Great reveal. Definitely thought I was about to fall at the final hurdle on this one.

Fun Fact: since Trigger and Kev have yet to reveal their winners, of the the Walrus' I've entered that have completed their reveal, I've won 4 of 6...

JP Liz V1

Thank you Irish Aris and well done again LeVar the Walrus king

Zaph

(Begrudging ) congratulations to ASLB for another impressive win. Maybe you'll give someone else a chance next time. But probably not. :pac:

And thanks for running a great competition Aris, I really enjoyed it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Zaph wrote: »

(Begrudging ) congratulations to ASLB for another impressive win. Maybe you'll give someone else a chance next time. But probably not. :pac:

ShaneU

Thanks for running Irish Aris. at least you liked one of my songs

fixXxer

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 21st place, submitted by

s1ippy

, Devil Townsend-Seventh Wave (from the album Ocean Machine: Biomech)

Someone had to take the last spot in this very competitive list and Devil Townsend had the disadvantage of being somewhat outside of my interests. The spoken word intro and the instrumental beginning were promising. But as soon as the vocals came in the song lost me: they sounded slightly distorted in some parts, and the general harshness made them get lost in the mix. As an instrumental this would have fared better, but as things stand it couldn’t avoid the last place.

Ocean Machine!! You beauty!!

the purple tin

Ah he-ur! Let someone else win for a change LB. You are becoming to Walruses what Mr Fong is to Sheeps
Nicely done Aris, cheers.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

the purple tin wrote: »

Ah he-ur! Let someone else win for a change LB. You are becoming to Walruses what Mr Fong is to Sheeps

It is what it is... :pac:

Kolido

Thanks Aris for a great game, really happy with 3rd, wasnt expecting to do that well.

Congrats to LeVar, you must be skint with all the bribe payments, let me know of ya need a sub.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Kolido wrote: »

Thanks Aris for a great game, really happy with 3rd, wasnt expecting to do that well.

Congrats to LeVar, you must be skint with all the bribe payments, let me know of ya need a sub.

No bribes necessary...



I don't mean to brag though...

Sawduck

Good win again LeVar and some really great songs entered in this walrus by everyone, cheers Irish Aris for running it

s1ippy

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Hahaha grace in triumph! Fair dues kid you've got quite the music taste, well deserved!

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 21st place, submitted by

s1ippy

, Devil Townsend-Seventh Wave (from the album Ocean Machine: Biomech)

Someone had to take the last spot in this very competitive list and Devil Townsend had the disadvantage of being somewhat outside of my interests. The spoken word intro and the instrumental beginning were promising. But as soon as the vocals came in the song lost me: they sounded slightly distorted in some parts, and the general harshness made them get lost in the mix. As an instrumental this would have fared better, but as things stand it couldn’t avoid the last place.

Aw that's a shame. I was mid-placed for the whole thing and placed in second before this crushing disappointment!

Devin Townsend is a Canadian musician who has a lot of strange projects recently but his roots are absolutely solid. He started out collaborating with:
Steve Vai (Sex and Religion album)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HROjcHR07Pg

and then got a band together -

Strapping Young Lad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeG-6bpeUkA

or for the faint of heart, here it is mixed with Beyonce:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmvwHwG1TNE

His influences are WASP, Rush and hair metal bands, which is ironic because before he went full moon he was famous for the Skullet (which Metalocalypse ripped off from him):


Here's Natural Science by Rush in full, just because it's amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7W0Nm8iHwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7W0Nm8iHwk

Anyway, Devin Townsend utilized to great effect the "Wall of Sound" technique. I'm not sure whether it was his ambitiousness that made it impressive or the sound engineer's ability to ensure it was still musical with that many layers in it. A MVP mention goes to SYL's drummer, one of the greatest drummers in the world, Gene Hoglan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jSD_JY5NIs

A tamer example of Devin's solo stuff that would probably be accessible to even those who aren't into metal might be this absolutely beautiful number from one of the last good albums that he made (imo).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gmLplFmUns

Anyway that's enough about that, great game everyone! See you in the next one and thanks so much Irish Arís for listening to them all. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotion

fixXxer

sl1ppy we could be best friends.

I posted Punky Brewster in a previous walrus, another Devin side project

Also Starring LeVar Burton

s1ippy wrote: »

Hahaha grace in triumph! Fair dues kid you've got quite the music taste, well deserved!

Yourself and Kev had me worried going in to that last round. Well fought. My commiserations.

beakerjoe

Thanks for a great game IA, happy to place so high.... maybe my taste isnt so ****e after all, ha.

Congrats to ASLB, an eclectic taste in music, but clearly they know their stuff. Well done.

JohnGreenFan

Irish Aris wrote: »

On the other end of the table, JohnGreenFan takes the wooden spoon. I think it was their first ever Walrus participation - but don't think about too much, it was simply a case of our music tastes not being compatible and I'm sure that they will have done very well in many other Walruses

Yes it was my first ever Walrus so at least it can only get better from here:D

Electric Nitwit

I noticed a pattern in the comments for my songs. I may have got the tactics wrong for this one :pac:

Irish Aris wrote: »

I thought the vocals were kind of lost in the mix

Irish Aris wrote: »

True to his word, EN submitted a song that meets my definition of noise. The issue I had with this song is that the vocals are not only a bit harsh but they also getting lost in the mix

Irish Aris wrote: »

I found this rather noisy. The instruments felt like they were trying to get on top of each other and the voices for the most part were getting lost in the mix – not sure if this was on purpose or a result of too much production, but I didn’t like the end result

Irish Aris wrote: »

Alas, for the second part (around the 3-minute mark) the song gets a bit “busy”: it sounds as all the mics for all the instruments are turned up to the max and fight each other for listening space