This is a walrus. Below are the categories. Your mission: for each category, find a song you think I would like that fits the established parameters of the category, then send your list of songs to me via PM. I prefer YouTube links, but Bandcamp or Soundcloud are also acceptable; please use links with good audio quality. I'll rank the songs in each category, and reveal the ratings and songs one category at a time. You will then complain and/or celebrate as appropriate.
The deadline to submit to this walrus is whenever I first log in to MU on August 13th. Reveal will start sometime after that. No promises on the speed of reveals, but I do promise to fully reveal everything eventually - I've run lots of walrii and never left anything unrevealed.
No alt subs other than Moose, he's grandfathered in.
My Taste:
I've hosted a few walrii, reviewed some albums in various places on the site, and subbed to a lot of walrii. I doubt any of you care enough to check, and I don't care enough to link them, but it's out there if you want to go balls deep in research. If you want a good mouthfeel for my taste in music, listen to the example songs.
Here's a quick rundown of my tastes by genre (if it looks made up or you don't recognize it, google "[genre name] rym" and read the description from rateyourmusic).
Low-hanging fruit: indie folk, indie pop, synthpop, indie rock
Not quite as low-hanging: hip-hop, art pop, art rock, dream pop, pop punk, alt rock, folk punk
Go for it: pop, punk, post-punk, chamber pop, r&b, alt-country, synthwave, experimental rock/hip-hop/whatever, noise rock, freak folk
Somewhat risky: psychedelic pop/rock, math rock, edm/dubstep, post-rock, alt-country, shoegaze
Seriously, don't bother: metal, pop country, ambient, prog rock, classical, anything resembling pentatonix
I would STRONGLY ADVISE you not to send anything from "Seriously, don't bother" (hence the name). I might enjoy the occasional song from those genres, but it's rare. Tread lightly.
By all means, send low-hanging fruit, but it's no guarantee for doing well.
In general, I prefer shorter songs. I do enjoy some longer songs, but that's a riskier path.
I'm not going to bother with a ban list - hard to know where to draw the line for a lot of artists - but if you're familiar with my taste please don't send obvious $%#! like Sufjan* or Everything Everything. I may give a small bonus for songs/artists I'm less familiar with. Feel free to ask me if I already know something you're considering sending, I have blind spots even in bands I've listened to a good amount. Or just YOLO it, that works too.
The Categories:
If you're lost, try listening to some of the examples, or send whatever the category makes you think of - don't overthink it or fret too much. These are more prompts than strict requirements, though still try to send something in the spirit of the category obviously.
1. recency bias
Send me something you've been listening to a lot recently (actual release date irrelevant).
A song that takes you to a higher plane of existence. A song to sit back, close your eyes, and listen to with your full attention. A song you probably wouldn't listen to at the gym or while pwning 8 year-olds in Fortnite. This is something more specific than simply "a song you love," but also something more vague. If you want to risk a post-rock or tangy-core sub, this is the place (naïve melody) to do it.
Keywords to shoot for: introspective, meaningful, downtempo, existential, thunderously calm
5. here he comes. here comes john wayne. 'i'm not gonna cry about my pa. i'm gonna build me an airport, put my name on it.' why, michael? so you can fly away from your feelings? you can keep them bottled up, michael, but they will come out. sometimes in the most unexpected...
[opens refrigerator and looks inside]
hey! where the f--k are my hard-boiled eggs?!
A category for the unexpected. This could be a song that caught you off guard, a song that has an unexpected change or twist in it, a song people would be surprised to see you submit, or a song that's just some weird $%#!.
Kendrick Lamar - XXX [a song that has an unexpected change or twist in it]
Aphex Twin - Stone in Focus [a song people didn't expect me to like] Eminem as a Talking Heads song [caught me off guard / weird $%#!]
6. a song that would be inappropriate at a funeral
Should be self-explanatory. Please send a song that's still good on its own merit - the ideal sub is hilariously out of place in the context of a somber, emotional funeral while still being a great song. An mp3 of someone crying and pooping over a drum loop would be inappropriate at a funeral but a poor choice for the category.
This category is optional after how much blowback Shad got for his Radiohead category. Send me a song by Sufjan Stevens, and your score in this category will replace your lowest score in the first six categories (unless it is your worst score lmao). If you want to sub but don't know Sufjan, feel free to do some light research or just pick a song completely at random, here are a couple good resources:
I'll rank the songs based on my personal enjoyment at the time of listening, so it's possible a song I love but have listened to a million times might not do as well as you might think. There is also an important caveat - if you send the same song as someone else, you're automatically ranked behind people who were the only person to send their song, even if you sent an awesome song and they sent One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman. Three people who send the same song are ranked behind two people who send the same song, and so on. And before you think you're oh so clever, live versions aren't a loophole to get around this. (Though you can send live versions if you really want.)
Hopefully this is less stupid than you think it is.
Subbed:
Frog
shubaka17
Bloobird
Kane
lendunistus
Egix96
Shad
KarmaDope
nutella
Visorslash
roro__b
MyNameIsNothing
remember
Owner of a Lonely Heart
PunchyTheCat
Sunbae
Viggorous
staypositivefriend
gbsfranca
Hally
Adam
LordQuas
Newcomb
Moose
Ampharos
Roman
Otter
Wisdom
Keldeo
Manasi
Cuthalion
Last edited by Zack; August 14th, 2021 at 02:00 AM.
ISO him. He looks good to me. I don't want to see him lynched. Yeah, he had a troll post here and there, but he's playing pretty townie. I don't expect a 14 year old to troll like that as scum anyways.
ISO him. He looks good to me. I don't want to see him lynched. Yeah, he had a troll post here and there, but he's playing pretty townie. I don't expect a 14 year old to troll like that as scum anyways.
and anyone else who would like to sub (sorry if I did not tag you, went off people who had explicitly expressed interest + random names off the top of my head)
This is the last week to enter a submission! Deadline is 2 PM edt on Friday, August 13.
subs are closed, I may accept late subs if they are quick
going to start listening to stuff now though. first reveal will not be until after shad week at the absolute earliest, and possibly not until September.
Subbed:
Frog
shubaka17
Bloobird
Kane
lendunistus
Egix96
Shad
KarmaDope
nutella
Visorslash
roro__b
MyNameIsNothing
remember
Owner of a Lonely Heart
PunchyTheCat
Sunbae
Viggorous
staypositivefriend
gbsfranca
Hally
Adam
LordQuas
Newcomb
Moose
Ampharos
Roman
Otter
Wisdom
Keldeo
Manasi
Cuthalion
Last edited by Zack; August 14th, 2021 at 02:01 AM.
and anyone else who would like to sub (sorry if I did not tag you, went off people who had explicitly expressed interest + random names off the top of my head)
This is the last week to enter a submission! Deadline is 2 PM edt on Friday, August 13.
glgl
:shifty:
Thanks for thinking of me! Obviously too late now. One of these days maybe I'll actually get to sub to you huh.
I like the weeb part more than Flo Rida's part. Why is this meme song so long? Alright we get the joke, let's move on with our lives. Giving Moose's big booty a slap down to last.
The rapping does not work for me whatsoever, and the rest of it is like … shrug, whatever. Persona soundtracks tend to be better than most from what little I've heard, but this was a miss.
My exposure to Daft Punk outside of Discovery and RAM is close to nonexistent. I found this extremely repetitive, overlong and not particularly interesting. This song goes on for-$%#!ing-ever.
A classic "song that works fine in the background of a video game but is dull on its own" sub. Beats Daft Punk because it's two minutes shorter, mostly.
4.5 / 10
Last edited by Zack; August 29th, 2021 at 08:09 PM.
Fine beat, passable rapping, subpar lyrics. Ends abruptly. idk what's the deal with the anime yell at the beginning. Most songs grow on me with repeated listens, this did the opposite. First listen I was like hey this is surprisingly alright, now I seem to like it less with each subsequent listen.
This is a nice track, but slower mostly-instrumental tracks aren't really my thing; there's a limit to how much I can truly enjoy something like this (though I do appreciate the soothing nature of the song). I'll admit I giggle a bit when she sings with a forlorn voice, "I came..." and either doesn't say running or it's barely audible.
This made me think of when Newcomb had a walrus with a random Drake covers category. Chipmunk Drake isn't as annoying as I would have thought... and yet, when you sub a remix of a Drake song that makes him sound like a chipmunk, you are putting a ceiling on high you can climb in the rankings.
Quote
Originally Posted by bloop
