Irish Aris's Walrus: The Reveal

beakerjoe

Congrats LeVar, a great tune to deserve number 1.

Back to the boneyard with Mike Shinoda for me. **** it, I still like him.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Will have to catch-up the replay of tomorrow's reveal later on, but I'm sure you'll be giving me 1st place in my absence, so thanks in advance for that...

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 1st place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Tears For Fears-Head Over Heels

No other song came close to challenging Head Over Heels for the top spot. This is another classic 80s song. Roland’s vocals are usually powerful – but here there is a softness and vulnerability in the way he sings and that’s why I consider this one of his most interesting (if not the best) vocal performance of his career.

Ask and you shall receive...

Cheers Aris! I had a feeling this one would do fairly well after Everybody Want To Rule The World got top spot in the first round.
Head Over Heels by far my favourite Tears For Fears song (and just one of my favourite songs ever) and I originally had this earmarked for my '80s song, until it dawned on me there were two body parts in the title and shifted it to this category...

Only two rounds now stand between me and a potential 4th Walrus Win... Not too sure how well received my last two rounds will go, but just to be in the running for another crown is amazing. Walruses are like my Superbowls... :cool:

Irish Aris

Good morning everyone, hope you all have a great bank holiday weekend!!

I will reveal another category tonight.
I will switch things around and reveal the wildcard category first (though it's meant to be last).

The category with the great album openers proves very difficult to pin down. It was a very strong category to begin with. But since Arsenal won the FA Cup on Saturday I am in an exceptionally good mood and I have gone into "Paula Abdul-American Idol" mode, I like everything - Thus I will need to give the list a couple of additional listens to settle things.

So see you all tonight at our usual 7 pm!

Tauriel

Just putting it out there but I'm a Gunner, don't know if that merits extra points

s1ippy

I never met anyone who didn't like any Radiohead before

Zaph

mustang shelly wrote: »

Just putting it out there but I'm a Gunner, don't know if that merits extra points

/Takes note should I do a walrus of my own some day - Aris and Shelly to be docked points.

Could be worse, at least you're not Chelsea fans. I was actually delighted that Arsenal won so that Lampard would have something else to whinge about.

Tauriel

Zaph wrote: »

/Takes note should I do a walrus of my own some day - Aris and Shelly to be docked points.

:eek:

I must start paying better attention to songs/artists you dislike for said future walrus

ShaneU

Boards is on fire right now so good luck doing this reveal. How dare the Admins have a bank holiday weekend off!

mustang shelly wrote: »

Just putting it out there but I'm a Gunner, don't know if that merits extra points

s1ippy wrote: »

I never met anyone who didn't like any Radiohead before

Some people don't like gloomy dark music!

Zaph

ShaneU wrote: »

Boards is on fire right now so good luck doing this reveal. How dare the Admins have a bank holiday weekend off!

Actually it's the guys in the office you need to direct your ire towards, admins never sleep.

Irish Aris

Zaph wrote: »

/Takes note should I do a walrus of my own some day - Aris and Shelly to be docked points.

Could be worse, at least you're not Chelsea fans. I was actually delighted that Arsenal won so that Lampard would have something else to whinge about.

You support Leeds, right? Welcome back to Premier League, hope you have a good season ahead.

Irish Aris

OK, looks like Boards isn't in a good mood at the moment, but let's try to do this anyway.

This category turned out to be a proper "Preach to the Unconverted: I only knew 4 of the 21 songs and there are quite a few artists that will be investigated further (pretty much everything except the bottom 3) and 4 great discoveries.

the purple tin

Nevermind. carry on...

Irish Aris

In 11th place, submitted by

Necro

, 2Pac feat. Talent-Changes

I am not sure if I have heard this before. I really liked the sample of The Way it is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, it gives a very solid base for 2Pac’s rapping. A risky choice as I mentioned that I’m not a big fan of rap, but a good choice nevertheless.

Irish Aris

the purple tin wrote: »

Is this the teen angst round?

No, this is my kind of wildcard.

If I recall correctly, the teenage angst was in phatkev's walrus, right?

the purple tin

Irish Aris wrote: »

No, this is my kind of wildcard.

If I recall correctly, the teenage angst was in phatkev's walrus, right?

Sorry Aris. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Irish Aris

In 12th place, submitted by

fixXxer

, William Shatner & Henry Rollins-I Can’t Get Behind That

This stood out being something completely different than anything else in the list. I find myself really getting into this spoken word sound. At certain points it got very loud and close to chaos territory but never crossed that line and it helped that the song (if we can call it one) is built around drums and the 2 voices, and that really appeals to me. A very interesting choice, one that I will definitely check further.

Irish Aris

In 10th place, submitted by

Sawduck

, The Doors-People Are Strange

I wouldn’t be the biggest Doors fan, but I do appreciate how good a performer Jim Morrison was. I only have a compilation album of theirs and am familiar with their biggest hits- People are Strange being one of them. I like Morrison’s voice in this one, softer than in other songs and it suits the melody and the lyrics.

Irish Aris

In 13th place, submitted by

JP Liz V1

, Sam Fender-The Borders

One of the artists in this list that I have never heard of but will definitely explore further. This was one of the songs that grew on me a lot. Initially I didn’t think much of it and it was close to the bottom 3 but gradually made its way up as I kept discovering bits that I like – especially the use of the saxophone.

Irish Aris

In 9th place, submitted by

phatkev

, Jacob Collier feat. Daniel Caesar-Time Alone With You

This was one of the songs that gave me a hard time to place. There is something quirky about Jacob Colliers’ music: weird sounds and harmonies, samples of various instruments making brief appearances, he seems to be drawing inspiration from a big pool of influences. I also liked Daniel Caesar’s voice, a very composed performance that comes at odds, and at the same time suits, the “noise” that happens around him. Another interesting choice, one that needs patience to get into.

ShaneU

I like that Sam Fender song, sounds a lot like Brandon Flowers.

Irish Aris

In 14th place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Yonaka-Rockstar

Mixed feelings about this one. I thought it sounded a bit generic but at the same time it has great energy, I would consider this more power pop (which is right down my alley) than indie rock, the production is very balanced and everything falls into place nicely. And I like Theresa Jarvis’ voice. One that has the potential to get heavy rotation in my playlist, I think I might need to listen to them a bit more to appreciate them, for now they will have to make do with the 14th place.

Irish Aris

In 8th place, submitted by

Osh

, Stereolab-Ping Pong

Second Stereolab submission and this time things get interesting. There is a nice retro vibe in this song which suits Laetitia’s Sadier voice perfectly. It feels that this came straight from the 60s or 70s but in this case this isn’t a bad thing. Ping Pong shows a different side of Stereolab’s music and confirms that they deserve my further attention.

Irish Aris

In 15th place, submitted by

Zaph

, Gomez-Whippin’ Piccadilly

Another band that I didn’t know. There were some interesting ideas on this, and it was holding my attention… but afterwards I couldn’t remember why. One of these songs that probably work within a Gomez album but as part of a diverse playlist like this it didn’t have as big an impact. There is definitely something interesting about their sound though and I kept going back to it. At the last listen it crucially jumped a few places to avoid bottom 3 and I decided to explore the Gomez’ sound a bit more.

Irish Aris

In 7th place, submitted by

Green&Red

, Belle and Sebastian-The Boy With The Arab Strap

Another band that I have never explored, although it would have been within my interests at the time. This made a very good first impression and it started very high in the rankings. A great melody and vocal performance by Stuart Murdoch. I liked the quiet outro of the last 30 seconds. It felt a bit repetitive from a point on (it is over 5 minutes long) and lost a couple of places, but a good choice and one of the great discoveries of this category.

Irish Aris

In 16th place, submitted by

RasTa

, Frank Zappa-Stick It Out

When I saw this nomination, I “earmarked” it for the last place. I have associated Frank Zappa with the more experimental and avant-garde side of rock, one that has long guitar solos and the likes. So I was surprised to like this one. The first thing that draw me was the German lyrics – and after the first “fick mich” the lyrics really caught my attention :P – very very funny. I also like the robotic vocals on the second part of the song. Not something that I would be inclined to listen to regularly but it changed my opinion on Frank Zappa as a big“no no”.

Irish Aris

In 6th place, submitted by

s1ippy

, The Jayhawks-Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces

Another band that I didn’t know and will investigate further. S1ippy linked for me this live NPR performance (which includes a few songs, Quiet Corners is the first one) but the result would have been the same with the album version too. A very nice song, great melody that lingered with me even after the song has ended. In the Wikipedia page it says that their music falls under the Alternative Country genre - I will admit that I wouldn’t have associated what I hear in this song as country, but in any case this was another great discovery.

RasTa

I was expecting last so I'll take it! Normally you either love or hate Zappa, no in between so you now are on a journey to loving Zappa.

I've got a better idea!

ShaneU

Never heard of The Jayhawks, I like them. Very R.E.M.

Irish Aris

In 17th place, submitted by

ShaneU

, The Strokes-At The Door

I don’t think I have heard anything that The Strokes have done since their debut album, and I found the sound of this song very different to what I had in mind. This is almost exclusively a synthesizer and Julian Casablancas voice. It was interesting in the beginning but ultimately the complete lack of other instruments (drums especially), the fact that there were no major changes in tempo or arrangement and also that I’m not too keen on his voice, pushed it further down the pecking order.

ShaneU

Struck me like a choooooooooord

Love that song, and the video is amazing.