Walrus The Life and Death of a Walrus - cat 3 reveal not soon

[Isa]

Hi. I'm Isa. I enjoy music of various kinds.
I'm a basic white 25 year old dude from Sweden. I have some musical theory in my backpocket but it's honestly quite slim and I suck at playing the guitar.

In this game you will submit me music related to the categories that I have written up for you. I will then award points to your submissions based on some relatively arbitrary metrics that I won't even bother to pretend hold up over time. What I will absolutely deliver on is a regular release schedule - I've never been as good in the meatworld at managing deadlines as I've been on Smogon. If you submit to this walrus, you should expect regular reveals and forum updates. Because you're worth it.

Regarding my musical tastes I can recommend a cursory glance at my Rate Your Music page. Beware of a terrible grading curve, I will try to be better here.
Generally, I enjoy post-punk, psychedelic pop/rock, post-rock, IDM, dream pop, shoegazing, instrumental hip-hop, plunderphonics, progressive rock and probably a lot of other stuff that I am forgetting. I am not a fan of thrash metal or harsher subgenres, nor country. You can trace my submissions and The Great Library posts for further indications on my musical tastes.

Rules (stolen from soviet and slightly altered):

• Send your submissions via Smogon PM, with songs being YouTube links. SoundCloud and other things that the bot handles also works, but I prefer YouTube. When submitting, use the following format:

  [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngLxOB-ZNuw]Änglagård - Jordrök[/url]

• My scoring system will be 1 - 10 with 5 being an "average" score. I like music a lot though so the actual average score might be a bit higher than that (especially if everyone submits good songs).
• I'm going to be very loose with some of the more vague cats so don't expect to catfail those or anything. If you do catfail however I'll notify you in time to resubmit if you want to before I reveal.
• Don't submit any of the examples.
• Bonus points will be given out amounting to your base score times 1.10 (an extra 10 percent) for songs that I've never heard before. A score of 5 would get you a 5.5 and a score of 10 would get you 11. I will also infrequently give out an arbitrary 0.5 bonus points if I deem a submission is especially suitable for a category.
• No "funny meme xd" submissions. I will disregard you.

Categories:
I forgot to write something about the categories prior so here's an edit oops. I wanted some categories that broke the mold at least slightly from the classic "submit your saddest song"/"submit your favorite song". To achieve this I set a theme of Cradle to grave, which should keep some of the categories fresh and at least slightly new, while allowing for a vast array of possible music being submitted. Enjoy.

1. Birth

Nothing can exist without being created or born and it is only natural that our story starts at the earliest possible point (with the exception of the conception). Submit a song that details a human, animal, creature, thing or idea coming into being.

Examples:
The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Is Born

Swans - Lunacy

2. Exploring the world

The first thing a newly born person does is to explore their immediate surroundings, and this willingness to discover stays with most of us. Stay exploring, and submit a song that details, or at least mentions a geographical place. Cat bonus for tracks with especially accurate descriptions of the subject matter.

Examples:
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

Joni Mitchell - California

3. Growing up

For the longest time of our lives, we develop as humans - we learn new things, we change our behavior, our opinions, our looks. Music submitted for this category should do the same - songs that progress and develop from one point to another, clearly having undergone changes between the start and the end, be it in volume, complexity, sanity or another fashion. This category is very open for interpretation when submitting.

Examples:
Simon Finn - Jerusalem

Explosions in the Sky - First Breath After Coma

Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

4. VIP

To continue our survival we often and frequently, especially early on in life, depend on our family, close friends and local institutions for our continued well-being and sanity. Dedicate a song to the ones that matter in life - family and good friends, sons and daughters and parents, even schools. No adult "temporary connections" here, save yourself for an upcoming category.

Examples:
Animal Collective - My Girls


David Bowie - The Bewlay Brothers

5. Identity

As we grow up we get attached to identities about who we are as persons. Some escape them, but most get narrowed down by themselves into simple statements. "I'm a painter." "I'm a 22 year old caucasian male with blonde hair stemming from Austria." You know the drill. Time for you to do the same - find a song that describes the subject matter as well as possible. Cat bonus for titles that do the same.

Examples:
Guided by Voices - I Am A Scientist

Wire - I Am The Fly

6. Love and Lust

The category you've been waiting for since you were explicitly told that one night stands were forbidden.
The emotion of love and the lust that's often connected to it are two of the strongest emotions that humans experience, as proved by the ridiculous amount of art related to it. It's your shot to show off some music with overdoses of oxytocin embedded. Submit some really emotional music about loving, longing and lusting, be it from the perfect Tinder date or a heartbreaking rejection or breakup.

Examples:
Arthur Russell - Another Thought

Makthaverskan - Antabus

7. Found A Job

Growing up in our current society unfortunately(?) comes with the obligation to work for your continued survival. How you make that money is up to you - "the world's oldest profession" may not be as ethical as it once was, but then again, how ethical is running a for-profit prison? Submit a song about a line of work.

Examples:
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman

Sparks - Hasta Manana, Monsieur

8. Reflections

As you age, settling down is unavoidable. Legs don't have the same energy to carry you forward, canes don't help. The body has failed you, but the mind is still intact, and especially so the memories of a live hopefully well lived. Give me a track where the singer reflects upon, or maybe merely flatly retells something that they experienced in the past.

Examples:
Young Marble Giants - Include Me Out

The Flaming Lips - In The Morning of the Magicians

9. Death

At last, the sweet embrace of death. Death gives life meaning, they say, but it also gives us a good opportunity to round up this walrus. Submit a track to me where the lead role kicks the bucket, explicitly or not.

Examples:
The Antlers - Two

Queen - The Show Must Go On

J Dilla - Stop

Signups (full submissions in bold, partial in italics):

soviet
Aladyyn
KnightsOfCydonia
asek
Da Letter El
Robert Alfons
eden's embrace
Bedschibaer
Shrug
MyNameIsNothing
shubaka17
mael
Jrdn

 

[soviet]

in

 

[Aladyyn]

in

 

[Panic Station]

what are those yt links, it's insane

 

[Asek]

the double. body armour. two quick ones. already know im getting there on the perfect line

 

[termi]

in!!

 

[Bedschibaer]

In yo

 

[Shrug]

in

 

[MyNameIsNothing]

in

 

[Isa]

ive received 6 subs for cat 1 :(

for the record i am accepting ridiculous stretches too. these songs are not catfails for cat 1:

i'll wait a bit more to announce when the first reveal is, but good news to everyone who did submit - if the current numbers stay your submission _will_ get fullplayed!

 

[shubaka17]

I'm back motherfucker. Give me an hour and I should have most of these subs in.

 

[Isa]

Aladyyn
Shrug
Asek

still need submissions


looking to reveal friday ~20:00 gmt+2

 

[mael]

in

 

[Jrdn]

in

 

[Isa]

changing reveal day and time to wednesday 21:00 gmt+2, two days to go

edit: pushing it to wednesday 23:00 gmt+2 instead, but might start earlier if i get home in time.

 

[Isa]

round 1 submissions

11th, Robert Alfons:

Burning Witch - Stillborn
4+0.4=4.4

I was actively wishing for this song to end from almost the first tunes and knowing this song is almost 12 minutes long made me die a little inside. The vocals are _not_ my cup of tea, the droning isn't supported by anything that isn't droning, again this song is 12 minutes long.

10th, Jrdn:

RZA - The Birth
4.8+0.48=5.28

This guy sounds like he's under the influence of some strong shit and he very well might be. RZA talks about life being slowed down but unfortunately everything is slow here and a BPM increase could really do him wonders. I don't actively despise this, but it's so hazy that it's actually getting on my nerves.

joint 8th, mael:

The Appleseed Cast - December 27 1990
5+0.5=5.5

The YouTube comments are exclusively about people being weirded out by sharing their birthday with the title of this song and I think I understand that after having listened to this. This song is odd, I haven't heard the album so I'm just guessing that this serves as the opening track and buildup for the second track on the album. I'd give this a Null rating if I could, it doesn't feel like an individual song to me, alas. There's just...nothing really happening.

joint 8th, eden's embrace

Cream - Born under a bad sign
5.5

This is surprisingly uninteresting. There's not much variety to the song, there's obviously skilled musicians behind the instruments but they don't give themselves much to work with. The singer sounds like he'd rather be drinking at the bar already.

7th, shubaka17

shubaka17
HONNE - Day 1
5.5+0.55=6.05

I'm not catfailing this out of the kindness of my heart (and because i dont want to scare off future submissions pls submit). The song itself is bland enough to not offend me in any way. It stopped, autoplayed into the next song and they both felt very similar. No mountains to make any valleys.

6th, KnightsOfCydonia

Depeche Mode - Unborn
6.5 + 0.65 = 7.15

This intro is a bit long for what it is. I don't feel particularly invested in the song, it doesn't catch me. The pre-chorus is a good hit though and it keeps it cool from there. I feel like this song could have been improved if it was a minute shorter.

5th, Aladyyn

Obscure Sphinx - Nasciturus
6.8+0.68=7.48

I'm not gonna say that this speaks to me or anything but this was surprisingly good for being in a genre I usually don't appreciate. The vocals were only mildly offputting at times so that's a plus.

4th, Da Letter El

Nas - Fetus
6.5+0.65+0.5 = 7.65

This is a decent piece of hiphop I guess. Lyrics super on theme, delivery is alright but a bit uninteresting. It feels a bit dated? Still cool qualities in here. Cat bonus for the detailed description of everything.

3rd, Beds

Exuma - Exuma, the Obeah Man
7.8

If we had more upbeat freak folk in our lives we'd all be happier and also put on weird meds. Exuma hit his highest point on the opener of his first one and it justifies a career on its own. The guitar carries this song more than just a bit - you really notice it when it disappears, and the outro feels very long without it. Of course the energy isn't as high in the outro either as it is during the chorus, where the voice of Tony really comes through.

2nd, soviet

Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar
8.5

Sigur Ros at their best. Icelandic is a weird language for a Swede since I can pick up parts of the sentences but others are completely lost, but I do feel like it gives me a better than average idea of what is being conveyed when reading the English translations. The song is beautiful, although the Tjú's used to be one of my favorite moments and now I find it slightly overdone already at the middle stages of the song. The one minute outro of heartbeats and static could be cut or added to the next song on the album.

1st, MyNameIsNothing

Dan Deacon - When I Was Done Dying
8.8+0.88=9.68

This was incredibly catchy. The production value here is high, the distorted children's choir is the right amount of quirky, the tempo is just as fast as it should be. Chorus could have been improved, but I'll gladly accept it for the verses alone.

current standings

will set a date for next reveal during next week

 

[Isa]

decided on a time for reveal, which is next monday 20:00 gmt+2

need subs from the following:

soviet
Da Letter El
Aladyyn

 

[Isa]

cat 2 reveal

11
shubaka17
Ylvis - Stonehenge

4.5+0.45=4.95
i got polish subtitles for this video for some reason. these rhymes are outside this world - high/technology/today are not words that should be combined. the song is just a stylistic parody without a great punchline. for a comedy song i didnt really feel entertain until the civic got introduced, it was all very predictable otherwise and comedy falls when you can guess what is coming.

10
Jrdn
Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed (Into the Wild)

6-0.5=5.5
the youtube video is 5:45 but it's a ruse because it's the same song played twice but second time it's just hummings and i dont know why the uploader thought that was a good idea. if it's actually part of the song as intended to be listened to that's just sad. this is also a catfail because after reading the lyrics a few times i have no idea what geographical place is being described. the song itself is bland enough. guitar is neat, lyrics are meh, voice is meh. no mountains to make any hills.


9
Aladyyn

Skyclad - Isle of Jura

5.8+0.58=6.38


You're getting away on a technicality here because Isle of Jura is apparently a whiskey (thanks google). I don't know what I've done to deserve a category where even the metal submittor submits folk metal I'm so tired of folk make it stop. Song is meh enough, it doesn't engage me in the slightest. Lyrics are par for the course, vocals are average at best. next


8
eden's embrace

Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

7

Nothing wrong with the classics. This is apparently the ""Original"" version but I gotta say that the version I am more familiar with, whichever version that would be, has more punch to it (oops scratch that i dont remember electric guitars so maybe ive heard live stuff or something). This song has been talked about by multiple others, so I'll not go on too long about it - it's so well known that my 8 year old kids that I work with use the opening line as a meme.


7
Bedschibaer

Ohia - Blue Chicago Moon

6.4+0.64=7.04


beds if you listen to this on the regular i hope that you please get in touch with a therapist if you havent already. the song does what it intends to do in a very precise manner. ive listened to this three times and my moods are definitely lowered. unfortunately the end where it's supposed to raise you up again doesn't work so now im fucking depressed. vocals are that special kind of american yanky that you get away with in these folk songs but nowhere else. lyrics are grandiose yet simple yet bland. i can recognize that this is a well crafted song but it fucking drains me to listen to. oh also the lyrics dont offer me much on what's chicagoian here but im generous.


6
KnightsOfCydonia

Ludo - Lake Pontchartrain

6.5+0.65=7.15

first seconds of intro has me going noooo, then i went yeeeeeaah and then the vocals came and i went ugh oh noooo. the story is not particularly interesting, but i can appreciate it. i cant appreciate these vocals though. exception for the ""ghastly"" parts, theyre quite decent. the use of the instruments to bring emphasis to certain parts of the story is also neat.

5
soviet

Pere Ubu - Dub Housing

6.6+0.66=7.26


In theory I love this, it's postpunk by a band that has made a song that I know and love (albeit in a cover version) and it's quirky. Unfortunately it's too quirky, but at least I know now exactly where This Heat got inspiration from. The vocals are just mangled. I know it's intentional but that doesn't stop it from sounding goofy. The lyrics are off-beat too, of course intentional, and it makes for a neat effect. The backing track is pretty cool. Bring back Final Solution.

4
Robert Alfons

Joanna Newsom - In California

6.8+0.68=7.48

What's up with the long songs dude. I've been meaning to listen to Joanna Newsom at some point since I know Ys is highly rated (and this album too) but I can't really get into these vocals. I expected this song to not take any major turns but it actually evolves in an interesting and unexpecting fashion, but unfortunately only briefly. The caaah caaah cuckoos are the best parts in general which is rather unfortunate.
This grew slightly on me upon a relisten and I think I will have to listen to this more times to be able to fully appreciate it. I feel like the current rate is mostly a placeholder in honesty.


3
mael
Kings of Convenience - Cayman Islands

7.5

What a way to throw me off guard by singing about how a place is shaped and then that place is Not the Cayman Islands but in fact a place not named. The guitar arrangement is very beautiful, overall I get reminded of some Pink Moon songs. Vocals are airy and hits just the right spot. I just wish the lyrics were more engaging.


2
MyNameIsNothing
Courtney Barnett - Depreston

7.3 + 0.73 = 8.03

These vocals are very interesting. She sounds very...uninterested, but in a way that still makes me want to come back for more. The lyrics were written in an interesting way, so coming to the end chorus (?) was a letdown. The outro is neat though. I'm a fan.


1
Da Letter El

Jai Paul - Str8 Outta Mumbai

https://soundcloud.com/paijaul%2Fstr8-outta-mumbai 8.5+0.85=9.35


holy shit this intro is b a n g e r

is this lsd? this could be lsd. i dont know ive never done lsd. holy shit tho.

The vocals are subpar but they're deep down in the mix so you don't really put any focus on them anyway, which is good, they shouldn't be the centerpiece for this kind of music anyway. Maybe it could do with a bit more variety but the ~special~ breaks serve that purpose too. Banger confirmed.

will edit in standings tomorrow

 

[Isa]

r2 standings

next reveal: tuesday 20:00 gmt+2. need subs from:
MyNameIsNothing
Da Letter El
soviet
Bedschibaer
Aladyyn