The Suggest Music To Izulde Tournament - Round 1

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Possibly could not be used since it was rather well played last year due to it being used for the "Where the Wild Things Are" film. If I was going to offer a Arcade Fire I think the obvious one is (edit). But yeah, I withhold any song suggestions due to the rules. Only "Murder in the City" makes me pause in thinking I could have come up with something better.

P.S. For the life of me I haven't gotten into Arcade Fire's newest album no matter how many times I listen to it. Based on what I like and their previous work I should love it.

That's odd, as I was less a fan of their first two albums, but kind of love their new one. It plays like a Canadian Springsteen album. Before, I've only really liked Wake Up, Neighborhood #2 and In the Backseat.

[Abe Sargent]

2nd page bump back

[Izulde]

I'll hit this again tonight. Ironically enough, I was just swearing at Game Dev Story for a jackass reviewer giving Lucky Britt, my pop star life game, a 6, thereby just knocking out of the Hall of Fame status.

[Izulde]

And we're back! We're in the home stretch now, with just two matchups remaining in the first round. For the second to last battle, we've got Easy Mac facing Recoil. I certainly wouldn't recoil from some Kraft macaroni and cheese right now, although Easy Mac tends to be feel slimy.

Did You Know?
Izulde tends to listen to a single song on repeat for hours on end when he really likes it. The last one he did this for prior to the tournament was Jay Sean (ft. Sean Paul and Lil Jon) "Do You Remember"

Easy Mac - How To Dress Well "You Won't Need Me Where I'm Goin'"
Pre-Listen Thoughts
Well now, that's an interesting band name. No real feelings one way or the other right now, although for some reason I'm getting a slight bleh vibe. Maybe it's been my mood all this week.

Listen #1
-Wow, that instrumental intro grates on my ears. The voices hurt my ears too. And that's with flipping through multiple youtube videos to see if it was just a fluke. Stopped at 1:41. That was literally painful.

Recoil - The Tallest Man on Earth "The Gardener"
Pre-Listen Thoughts
Obviously, things just got a lot easier for Recoil. All he has to do to advance is for me to make it through his entry. That shouldn't be hard to do, right?

Listen #1
-Decent guitar, although the voice is pretty meh at first blush. Then again, I tend not to like Swedish accents in general. Although Recoil's already won this one, I'll give it a second listen, but it's not anything that makes me want to listen to a third or more times.

*Lyrics Retrieved*

Listen #2
-Gruesome, much? Voice is better on second listen. I'll cut this listen short, at 2:35 because every comment I've seen says a live version is better.

Bonus Listen (Live Version)
-Yep, better live. But I wouldn't consider him gush-worthy based on this one song. On the other hand, the song title "King of Spain" intrigues my monarchist/royalist sensibilities. Cut at 1:43, because this is already won and I just don't feel like listening to this anymore.

Winner - Recoil - The Tallest Man on Earth "The Gardener"

[b]

[terpkristin]

So wait, you buy/download all the songs suggested? I'm intrigued.

How did I miss this I wonder.

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,

I'm so intrigued I'm playing along. I can't say I've heard any of these songs except the Arcade Fire one (which I own the album). So a playlist called Izulde is getting made on my iPod.

/tk

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

So wait, you buy/download all the songs suggested? I'm intrigued.

How did I miss this I wonder.

/tk

I actually listen to the songs via YouTube. Which reminds me, I'll finish off the first round later today/tonight.

[Abe Sargent]

Yay!

[Izulde]

And finally, in the last match-up of the first round. Abe Sargent vs. Passacaglia.

Did You Know?
Izulde also has an affinity for movie soundtracks, particularly songs that are in-scene. One of his favorites is this one:

Abe Sargent - Royksopp (ft. Robyn) "The Girl and the Robot"
Pre-Listen Thoughts
There's a noted similarity in tastes for certain things between Abe and Izulde, so we'll have to see if that comes through in this one.

Listen #1
-Good genre, fairly weak choice so far. It feels very monotone and lacking in variance.

Listen #2
-This is actually starting to put me to sleep, which is never a good thing for a dance track. On the other hand, its blandness makes it decent background music.

*Lyrics Retrieved*

Listen #3
-It's getting a little better now, but I'm feeling very lukewarm towards it right now. This just isn't on the same of level as Real McCoy or even Ace of Base, to use mid-late 90s Eurodance comparisons.

Final Verdict
The musical version of diner coffee. It doesn't have the potency or flavor of what you usually drink, but it does in a pinch if you're thirsty for coffee.

Passacaglia - No Kids "For Halloween"
Pre-Listen Thoughts
A daring seasonal entry. Never heard of the group or the song, so it'll be interesting going up against something I know fits genre-wise.

Listen #1
-Hmm. This is an interesting combination of voices and instruments, probably one of the more unusual ones to my ears this one. I'm not quite sure how to feel about it just yet, but I'm liking it more as the song goes on.

Listen #2
-This seems much more lively than the other entry in this matchup and I'm liking the mix of instruments and voices a fair bit. Not a favorite, but pleasant, especially 2:49 - 3:03. The first time I didn't like the pauses and mini-foghorn type sound immediately following, but this time I do. It provides a changeup.

*Lyrics Retrieved*

Listen #3
-I'm officially charmed by the lyrics. Flamenco mentioned in the first line of a halloween song. This is a song I could see growing more on me and I find myself actively listening rather than the passive glossing of some of the other songs in this round.

Final Verdict
A quirky entry that somehow works, but it took multiple listens to really get into it. Bonus points for the daring seasonal selection.

It's fairly clear which one has won this. I'm really looking forward to Round 2.

Winner - Passacaglia - No Kids - "For Halloween"

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks Izulde!

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Izulde

There's a noted similarity in tastes for certain things between Abe and Izulde,

I noticed that too in the 90s Mount Rushmore thread that I linked to, so I wasn't happy going up against Abe -- especially since the songs I've heard by Royskopp featuring Robyn were good stuff. I'm not sure if Abe's recommendation was one of the songs I heard, but I'll find out when I listen to the entire playlist as part of my research for Round 2!

[terpkristin]

Well, for fun, I did the play-along-at-home (actually, I listened to them all at work on my iPod) version of this game. I found that by and large, my "winners" were the same Izulde selected. In round 4, though, I accidentally used the belated entry instead of the official entry.

Round 1 winner: Arcade Fire. I admit, I like AF and have the album that song's on. I liked the John Doe song but I didn't like his voice, and that tipped the scales for me.

Round 2 winner: The Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes song. I remembered it from the Ford Fiesta ad and liked the bouncy-ness of the song. The Neutral Milk Hotel song had the "fake folky" sound to it, which drives me nuts. Also, I thought the lead singer had a whiny voice.

Round 3 winner: Amadou & Mariam. I liked the zither (or whatever sounded like one) and I liked the French lyrics. I did like the Freak Nasty song, too, but I ended up voting for the Amadou & Mariam song because it was new to me.

Round 4 winner: When it was between The Hold Steady and The Avett Brothers, it was very close; I couldn't decide. While The Hold Steady sound reminded me a bit of Counting Crows (a generally bad thing), I liked the tempo and enjoyed the song. Murder in the City was a nice, mellow sound. When I used the right song, by Mogwai, The Avett Brothers won easily. The instrumental sound just wasn't doing it for me in the Mogwai song.

Round 5 winner: Ke$ha. I liked both songs, but Ke$ha's voice reminded me a bit of Rhianna's, and I liked the dancey-ness. Vast's song was good. Kind of dark, but good. I could see this winner changing with my mood.

Round 6 winner: Ingrid Michaelson. I liked the female voice, she reminded me a bit of Yael Naim. The song was fun, reminiscent of some of the tracks from the Juno soundtrack. The Hold Steady song in this round also reminded me of Counting Crows, and this time, it was too much.

Round 7 winner: The Tallest Man on Earth. This was really a win by default. I could not stand the scratchy/fake-folksy sound of the How to Dress Well song. That one is probably getting deleted from my iPod entirely (something I rarely do).

Round 8 winner: On my way home from work last night, it was the No Kids song. When I listened again this morning, it was Royksopp. I think this one is one that changes with my mood. I liked them both.

/tk

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Round 5 winner: Ke$ha. I liked both songs, but Ke$ha's voice reminded me a bit of Rhianna's, and I liked the dancey-ness. Vast's song was good. Kind of dark, but good. I could see this winner changing with my mood.

VAST (Jon Crosby, he IS the band) is definitely a mood/atmosphere band. I just love Crosby's dark lyrics and the music fits well with it - lots of chanting and guitars, but also a Depeche Mode/Cure/U2 feel to some of it (which I typically don't like, but it works with his style). Vocally, he's like a drunk Jim Morrison at times. Just brilliant stuff, though - I really connect to it.

His latest stuff has been an exploration of Americana folk, and he released 6-8 internet EPs of a bunch of songs at various points of production (some just live acoustic guitar and vocal only; others more produced and with strings, etc.). He finally released a proper album of a dozen of the songs called Me and You.

If you are interested, here is probably his most famous song (his first single from way back in the late 90s which has been used in a couple of movies and TV shows) and one of my favorites from his folk stuff:


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[terpkristin]

Nice, thanks, Ksyrup!

/tk