Rate the song above you

[kyeugh]

i'm weirdly nostalgic for this old forum game right now and love talking about music, so why not give it a shot?

in this game, all you have to do is listen to the song in the post above you, post a rating (and optionally your thoughts), and then link a song of your own for the next user to rate. the music can be any genre, whether it's rock or hiphop or video game soundtrack or anime OST. please use youtube links, and lyric videos are preferred if applicable. don't forget also that you can embed youtube videos into your post by using the "media" button on the post editor toolbar!

i'll start with a classic:

 

[Sinderella]

i'll start with a classic:

I give it a solid 7/10 for nostalgia reasons. I was 12 when this game came out so it takes me back to a simpler time. Not my favorite or most nostalgic choice, but a goody nonetheless. Good pick.

My torn.

 

[Equitial]

7/10. I've never heard the song before, but the style of the vocalist brings me back to when I was like 17/18 and listened to a lot of power female rock/metal singers. Good stuff; I added it to my Spotify library.

 

[kyeugh]

8/10. really good stuff, it's kind of giving The Strokes... the guy has a nice voice, a little understated but fits the sound well. the vibe was good, a little crunchy. none of the instruments really stood out—i'm curious what this group sounds like a little more stripped down, definitely going to check them out now.

here's a slightly odd one.

 

[seatherny]

7/10; some of the really fast paced vocals were... distracting? immersion breaking? for me, but otherwise I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this song.

Spoiler: Lyrics from vid description

When you're, fucked up from a little bad luck and
Somehow your mind will start to go away
Fucked up from life’s dark touch and
You curl up and hope that it’ll go away

I fall you fall,
Let's have a ball,
Drag you below cuz we’re all goners anyway,
Just take my hand,
No time to waste,
I’m off the case, My mind is on a holiday
I’ll check back in another day
Hey

I’m,
Losing my, losing my, losing my soul
Losing my, losing my mind is first to go,
Losing my, losing my, losing my soul
Losing my, losing my sanity, is gone

Cuz when, I fly
Houston we got a problem,
When, I drop
I don’t know why I’m even here
It’s fucked up
Cuz sometimes it’s fun
And I think that you, need to lighten up a bit

On my call, we jump
Then we’ll collide,
Drag you below cuz we’re all goners anyway,
Just take my hand,
No time to waste,
I’m off the case, My mind is on a holiday
I’ll check back in another day
Hey

I’m,
Losing my, losing my, losing my soul
Losing my, losing my mind is first to go,
Losing my, losing my, losing my soul
Losing my, losing my sanity, is gone

What you want from me,
I’m insane today,
It’s not going away,
Live my life today,
Roll and dice and say,
I wouldn’t have it any other way

 

[NebulaDreams]

6/10. It doesn't stick out a lot for me (neither lyrically or musically) but I could picture myself dancing to this in the club.

 

[slamdunkrai]

8/10. Categorising it in terms of stuff I know already, this feels like a midpoint between the melancholic, spacey art pop you'd hear from Frank Ocean and (especially nearer the start) one of Jim O'Rourke's folk/electronica hybrids (NSFW cover on that last one). This is an imperfect analogue because I do like how glitchy and loud it gets, something that feels uncharacteristic from either artist; it feels a little suffocating at parts, which is a definite plus given the content matter here. I think the lyrics feel a little too direct in parts for my taste (e.g. the "dry skeleton"/"humerus" pun), but that one's personal taste more than anything. I suspect I'll be coming back to this one; I've always wished more of the recent sad-boy indie pop was unafraid to get adventurous, and this scratches that itch. (I've also just learned this guy used to be a FIFA YouTuber, which is so funny to me. Absolutely spectacular career arc.)

Dropping this here because I have had the whole album on rotation lately:

 

[kyeugh]

gonna give this one an 8/10 as well. absolutely banger of a first line. i really liked the bittersweet, wistful feeling of this song—not in the sense that it's sentimental, but rather in that it's specifically unsentimental in its detached, wry delivery of what is actually a pretty bleak narrative. the very american, borderline country vibe and almost effortless feeling of the song really reinforce washed-up and fettered yet unbothered persona that the lyrics establish. it's not a song that grabs you by the shoulders, which is why i don't rate it higher, but what it's trying to do, it does really well. it has the aura of a 711 parking lot—not glamorous, but that can be comforting, and we've all been there, hey. sometimes you just need to blast some plucky guitar and hotbox your car while eating gas station pastries.

here's one of my favorites. this song never gets old to me. wonder what y'all think of it.

 

[NebulaDreams]

9/10. His vocal melodies at the beginning are fantastic, and the sense of progression in this song in general is great too, going from a quiet acoustic ballad to a crunchy rocker at the end. Remind me to check out more of Frusciante's music, I've only heard his more lo-fi stuff so far.

It might be recency bias here but holy hell, this bangs, and I want someone to witness it:

 

[slamdunkrai]

6.5/10, could go either way depending on the day but I certainly feel more positively about it than I don't. I don't think Grimes quite has the pull this feels like it wants from her: the spacy breakbeat and the keyboards that float across it, the bassline defined by incompletion, the flickers of that guitar melody you get once the hook is in full swing; it all seems to paint a picture of some unspoken wanting of something that just eludes grasp — the process of looking for something that nobody else can see, the effort to make tangible what lies deep within, the fantasy of flight all evoke something without ever actually making it tangible. I think her vocals try to force the mystery and the longing just a tad when compared to the commendable efforts put forward by Polachek and Dido. I also kinda wish the song would have just faded out instead of trailing off with an ending that achieves the same effect less convincingly to my ears, and in truth I do like my garage-inspired art pop to be a little less smooth around the edges than this. At the same time, though, every other element of this feels like a natural fit: once the song is in full swing I can fully buy into the ethereal atmosphere that feels like the backdrop of a dream where desire is felt but never articulated; the other two vocalists do excel with the assignment, and that acoustic flourish is a damn fine touch. It's not bad; in fact, it's pretty good. This would have done numbers on a hypothetical Sonic Adventure 3 released on a Dreamcast system whose sales figures live up to the hype.

Have we had any big guitar numbers in here yet? I've had this one on fairly heavy rotation as of late:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvQ-vxMK_lU

Spoiler: Lyrics

Yeah, standing on the deck, I watch my shadow stretch
The sun pours my shadow upon that deck
The water's lickin' 'round my ankles now
There ain't no sunshine way, way down
I see the sharks are in the water like slicks of ink
Well, there's one there bigger than a submarine
As he circles, I look in his eye
I see Jonah in his belly by the campfire light

Oh, an albatross up in the windy lofts
Yeah, he's beating his wings while he sleeps it off
I hear the jettisoned cries from his dreams unkind
Yeah, they're whipping my ears like a riding crop
Well, the captain once as able as a fink dandy
He's now laid up in the galley like a dried-out mink
He's laying dying of thirst and he says, or I think
"Well, we're gonna be alone from here on in"

Yeah, you're all my brothers and you have been kind
But what were you expecting to find?
Now your eyes turn inward, countenance turn blank
And I'm floating away on a barrel of pain
It looks like nothing but the sea and sky would remain

[Instrumental Break]

I say, na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na, hey
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na, hey

Yeah, a harpoon's shaft is short and wide
A grappling hook's is cracked and dry
I said, "Why don't you get down in the sea
Oh, and turn the water red, man, like you want to be?"
'Cause if I cry another tear then I'll be turned to dust
No, the sharks won't get me but they don't feel loss
Just keep one eye on the horizon, man, you best not blink
They're coming fin by fin until the whole boat sinks

Yeah, fin by fin
Yeah, fin by fin
Yeah, fin by fin
Oh, fin by fin by fin by fin
Hey, hey

 

[tomatorade]

9/10 wanted to be more critical, but I was just vibing about a minute in. Makes me mourn for a time when rock music could back up its bluster with some actual muscle. Shockingly a 2000's release--real standout to the rock coming out around then. The guitar tones are great, especially, and althought I wasn't initially a fan of the drums and the vocals started a little weak, by the time he's shouting I'm drawn fully in to this constant, evolving breakdown through to the final seconds of pounding drums and noodle guitars.

Interesting little narrative in the lyrics. I wouldn't know it if not for the lyrics being posted lol, but there's an energy of defeat that rings through clear even without knowing. That being said, I don't think I'll ever be a fan of na-na-nas.

Great song. Have to look into more.

Always down to force people to listen to all the obscure canadian bands I've heard over the years. Here's a great revolt song. Very folky. Very threatening. Love it:

v=X397uObpGUI&ab_channel=SouthernSouls

 

[slamdunkrai]

this is an odd Death Grips cover 8/10. Only real complaint is that I think the bit in the middle where the lyrics essentially just break into moans and hums while the rest of the song continues at full pace is a momentum killer right at the core of the action. I'm not one to complain too much when faced with neat little folk and country tunes about turning tools of oppression against the rich and the might of a working class in solidarity; the band here has a nice thrust about it (I especially love that walking bassline) that I think matches the intensity of the vocals and lyrics. Reminds me of That One Populist Country Song That's Big At The Moment That I Shan't Name except good and also 150% less fascist with its undertones. I like the singer's whole candle thing, too. It's a neat aesthetic touch. Adding these guys to my list of musicians to learn more about.

Risking it all here by posting my favourite band here, seeing as they are quite famously an acquired taste; however, I have always felt like this one especially is some sort of spiritual predecessor to the direction taken by some of the more uptempo Pokémon battle themes from Gens 4 through 6, which is an impressive thing for an English rock band working in 1991.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKqC9I3ypSw

 

[tomatorade]

8/10 I've definitely heard of Cardiacs before. They're one of those bands you'll inevitably hear about browsing RYM. Never listened before though, because I refuse to be a nerd like those RYM weirdos lol. Can definitely hear the battle theme comparison, too, with those immediate, high-energy guitars. Although the prog elements are a lot more apparent here than in pokemon. Actually reminds me more of fellow cult act Sparks for some reason? Kinda wacky and high energy, I guess.

There's some real power in the group vocals that I love, same with the usual prog time signature shenanigans. Normally I fond it kind of overbearing, but they can at least keep the energy up here. Not too long, either, which is another problem I usually have with prog. I'm finding it a little hard to justify giving it an eight lol. I thinks it's fairly blasphemous to say that I don't like pokemon battle themes that much, but I find the hype of the music fairly unearned. This, at least has some variety and manages to keep me engaged, but the first minute is a little jarring and I'm slow to get into it. I feel like I'd either like it more or less placed in the full album, depending on the context, but I
m not sure which.

Anyway, still a very well crafted song. Something to return to on days when I miss caffeine and need something to pick me up. Maybe I'll actually listen to the nerds this time.

Here's one of my weirdo picks: Luge. An experimental rock/nonsense band. (Video EPILEPSY WARNING. got some flashing lights in this one.)

 

[Meridian]

Yknow, I was already going towards "this has psychedelic vibes" and oh, an experimental rock band, yeah. that contextualizes it better.
I'm a fan typically of experimental media, so I'm pretty glad to have opened the thread when I did.
I got a chuckle out of the outfit and shooting locations, like under the stairs or drumming from a couch.
The chorus is pretty simple, but damn the verses goes somewhere.

Spoiler: substance use, weed

I'm VERY glad I opened this while my edible was coming on, lmao

it sounds like something one of my boyfriends would enjoy, so I'm gonna be passing it on.
Seems we've been in a chain, and I'm not disruping it:
8/10

Mewmore's remix of the Cascarrafa theme
this just came out, and as someone who's been listening to Mewmore for a while, I'm enjoying a SV remix. I only see so many of them that aren't spoilers for the later plot I still need to finish, and with Cascarrafa being the first gym I did + the area I've spent the most time in probably, I really like how this remix plays out