Lurker > FoolFantastic

Before I put up the next topic, these are the results I calculated for the future albums.

Qualifiers:
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape - 36 points
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions - 26 points
Knower - Knower Forever - 25 points
The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno) - Cowboy Bebop - 22 points
Viktor Vaughn (MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain - 21 points
Garbage - Version 2.0 - 21 points

Non-qualifiers:
Joni Mitchell - Blue - 20 points
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication - 17 points
Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob - 17 points
Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4 - 14 points
Garth Brooks - No Fences - 12 points
Jukebox the Ghost - Safe Travels - 5 points
Was (Not Was) - What Up, Dog? - 4 points

up

bump

Bump

I don't know why you would expect 21 to finish over Franz Ferdinand. The latter is one of the most acclaimed rock albums of this century and this forum very clearly likes rock.

ra2ah3roma2ma posted...

Hey now, I'll have you know my name isn't random at all

It's Bad Romance

Care

Dawn FM is the first Weeknd album I've loved beginning to end since his debut mixtape. Most of his albums contain a couple greats and empty space between, but this one makes a stunning whole. The "skits" really sell the atmosphere, this idea of a late night radio station. One of those throwback albums that builds off its inspirations while still feeling like the genuine article.

Take My Breath
Less Than Zero
Is There Someone Else?
Sacrifice
Out of Time
How Do I Make You Love Me?
Gasoline
Here We Go...Again
I Heard You're Married
Starry Eyes
Best Friends
Don't Break My Heart
Dawn FM
Every Angel is Terrifying
Phantom Regret by Jim
A Tale by Quincy

Here's my top 5. Someone actually nominated something I like more than my own nomination
1. Joni Mitchell - Blue
2. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
3. Viktor Vaughn (MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain
4. The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno) - Cowboy Bebop
5. Knower - Knower Forever

The Cowboy Bebop OST is an all-timer but we also just did another (lesser) Yoko Kanno soundtrack so we maybe need some space. Decided to give Vaudeville Villain the edge because I haven't listened to nearly enough Doom. Giving slight support to Knower since two people have really wanted it featured.

Tales of the Inexpressible track ranking

9. Flute Fruit (Track #9)
Score: 19 (Average Rank: 7.75/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, NFUN, Seanchan, HBJDubs, Sheep007 (#9)

8. Room 2 (Track #4)
Score: 26 (Average Rank: 6.75/9)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh, Johnbobb (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN, Seanchan, MaxGalactica, Sheep007 (#8)

7. Shpongleyes (Track #6)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 6.38/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): rlwh (#9)

6. Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness (Track #7)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 6.13/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#9)

5. My Head Feels Like a Frisbee (Track #5)
Score: 43 (Average Rank: 5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan, MaxGalactica (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#8)

4. A New Way to Say 'Hooray!' (Track #3)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 3.88/9)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#8)

3. Around the World in a Tea Daze (Track #8)
Score: 60 (Average Rank: 3.75/9)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh, NFUN, Seanchan, MaxGalactica, Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#9)

2. Star Shpongled Banner (Track #2)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 3.13/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#5)

1. Dorset Perception (Track #1)
Score: 84 (Average Rank: 2.25/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, NFUN, Seanchan, MaxGalactica, Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#7)

Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
NFUN (6)
Seanchan (6)
Sheep007 (6)
MaxGalactica (12)
Johnbobb (14)
HBJDubs (18)
rwlh (18)
Fluttershy_Pony (30)

General Album Comments

rwlh: Shpongle is great. I've not found many bands that combine all the sounds they combine into something this amazing. A New Way to Say Hooray is my easy pick for first place - that song gives me chills. I would best describe it as "psychedelic Space Lion."

Seanchan: Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that I did a relisten to Disco Volante just before this, because while it's not in the same county it's certainly in the same country. Both sound like the bands did a whole bunch of drugs and just did a jam session. The only difference is Shpongle at least seems like they tried to make something palatable because this at least doesn't make me want to rip my ears off.
(...)
Okay, after a second listen I want walk back my prior comments a bit. This is a genuinely good album and I see the appeal.

That said, I don't feel like this is a good album for a track ranking. This plays like an album (i.e., as a long singular piece), rather than a collection of songs. If you're not looking, it's very hard to know when a particular song begins or ends. And that's the point that bothers me a bit. I get wanting to share personal favorites, but are people asking themselves "is this a good choice for a track ranking?". As a personal example, I'm a big fan of Deadmau5's Random Album Title, but I'd never nominate it because it plays best as an album with the songs flowing into each other.

FoolFantastic: I listened to the album but I tend to do so while I'm working and wasn't paying close enough attention to notice the transitions so I'm probably not going to bother ranking the tracks. The music was fine enough if a little tiring by the end.

Johnbobb: this album fucking rules, guess I'm a shpongle fan now

NFUN: I am completely gestunkenflucht. This album is such an amazing conglomeration of random things I love--weird semi-ambient New Age electronica, psychedelic rock, overuse of samples for context in lieu of vocals, and whatever the fuck Osamu Sato does. WHY IS THIS THIRD EYE. WHY IS THIS BOSSA NOVA. WHY IS THIS BEYOND THE BOUNDS. I've heard a few albums that absolutely love to play with genres (usually because of Steiner), but this album is much more... I don't want to say "coherent", because it really isn't; maybe subtle? Often, when the song isn't doing something overtly ridiculous, I don't even really notice that the genre had slid over the course of the song to something entirely different yet still quite natural. Given how each individual song is kind of several songs and the album as a whole is kind of one song, I should be a little annoyed at this being hard to rank, but fuck it, I don't care. Fuck you. This album rules.

Giggsalot: Not sure if I'll be able to get round to this, but for anyone discovering Shpongle here and enjoying this: their next album (Nothing Lasts... But Nothing is Lost) is even better!

(I also prefer their fourth album to this one too, but that's more or a minority opinion)

Seanchan: A fairly arbitrary ranking due to the nature of the challenge, though I'm feeling pretty confident about first and last.

There's two questions I ask myself at the end of each week. Would I listen to this again? and Would I listen to something else from this group? With Shpongle, the answer to both is definitely yes! It's certainly hard to place this album, with it's EDM-ish bits, the samples, and the general bits of weirdness that reminded me a tiny bit of Rusted Root. But it all managed to come together!

HBJDubs: This was my introduction to psychedelic music, and I was immediately blown away by how good this album, and Shpongle in general, is. I had more to say, but NFUN pretty much sums it up! If you enjoyed this, definitely check out Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost; it was the other album I was considering for nomination, but Tales just has a little more sentimental value to me.

MaxGalactica: Yeah, this album's pretty awesome. Only one song felt like it dragged too long, and the rest felt like fountains of creativity exploring all sorts of different sounds. I especially loved the incorporation of flute with all of the unique synths used. Dorset Perception was a clear standout to me, but I really liked nearly every song on the album. Great pick for this week.

Sheep007: What an incredible album. Gestunkenflucht indeed. I'm fine with a track ranking for something like this, I think by my third listen they were distinct enough to pick one song out from another. The only reason I'd consider avoiding ranking is that it would be a disservice to Shpongle to put one part of this album above any other. I have been listening to Shpongle constantly this past week while writing my thesis and I can feel my mind expanding. I really, really cannot emphasise how much I enjoyed this. Listen to Shpongle.

Below are people's comments on their nominations or, if they said nothing, a link to the most streamed song according to Spotify

Garth Brooks - No Fences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvCgSqPZ4EM

Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4:
This has been my most anticipated album over the past 4 years since Vol. 3 released, and it finally released a week ago. And it lived up to my expectations and more, which was a pleasant surprise. It's Collier's most cohesive and accessible album, while sticking to his roots in complex harmonies, rhythms, and genre exploration and variety. It includes elements of synthpop, symphonic, djent, hyperpop, soul, gospel, rock, house, folk, R&B, yacht rock and much more. His songwriting abilities and production quality are at their best in this album. There's also a lot of cool features throughout including Arch Echo, Lawrence, Michael McDonald, Kirk Franklin, Lizzy McAlpine, John Mayer, Chris Martin, aespa, Tori Kelly, and others. I'll only post one sample, but if you have time to check out a couple of others, I'd recommend 100,000 Voices and Wherever I Go.

https://youtu.be/IzGXQraNoLc

Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crOZk88eCcg

Garbage - Version 2.0:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-CPZRwbh8

Jukebox the Ghost - Safe Travels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlaRLuozBX8

Knower - Knower Forever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuhe1CpHRxY

Joni Mitchell - Blue:
Joni Mitchell is an artist I've always meant to listen to more of. Blue is probably her most acclaimed album, 10 songs of singer-songwriter goodness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqYpK3CFmMk

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L0LIo35sF4

The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno) - Cowboy Bebop:
Mind, this nomination is for the first volume. The greatest soundtrack to one of the greatest stories ever told.

https://youtu.be/6MkiydRXDe0?si=VjRwe4_k8sMFYg1G

Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9NSMY8QiQ

This is the only album of theirs I've heard. My understanding is this is a bit of an anomaly (or at least it was at the time) for being much more pop and upbeat than their usual fare.

Viktor Vaughn (MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain:
One of MF Doom's many aliases, and an incredible concept album about a Dr. Doom-inspired time traveler trapped in 90s NYC. I've loved pretty much all of Doom's stuff but I think I'd call this my favorite album of his, with a very grimy sci-fi feel to the production

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCRjJxYSPRc

Was (Not Was) - What Up, Dog?:
https://youtu.be/dT0i6v-cfh4

I tried nominating it once before, but I didn't do a great job of selling it--honestly, there was another album by the band that I preferred and I was bitter about feeling forced to nom the popular pick. But now I've come around on this one. It features the perfect blend of David's pop/funk sensibilities & Don's strangeness. Come for two top ten hits (Walk The Dinosaur & Spy In The House Of Love) and stay as they erratically bounce between genres and subjects so wildly that you never know what's going to happen. You want incredibly emotional and moving songs? We've got one! Kinda generic but catchy pop music? You betcha! Frank Sinatra Jr.? Hell yeah, we got Frank Sinatra Jr. for no apparent reason! Experimental nonsense? Short stories? This album has it all. Seriously, if you're tired of albums with "similar songs" and "coherent styles", then join me for an album that very much does not have that problem. Nothing on the album is like anything else, so it should provide a variety of rankings and stand out.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wZ3ZG_Wams

Rank your top 5 among these albums:
Garth Brooks - No Fences
Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Garbage - Version 2.0
Jukebox the Ghost - Safe Travels
Knower - Knower Forever
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno) - Cowboy Bebop
Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
Viktor Vaughn (MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain
Was (Not Was) - What Up, Dog?
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Thursday, March 21st at 8:00 AM Central Time; If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. Every few weeks, a nomination period will open; there may or may not be a theme. Each user can nominate one album. The following week, everyone will be able to rank their top ~5 among the choices - this will use a bottom-up scoring approach, i.e. voting for one album will give your #1 a single point, voting for five will give your #1 five points, so it is always better to vote for the maximum number of albums. The top ~5 will then be covered.
8. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

The Weeknd - Dawn FM track list:
1. Dawn FM
2. Gasoline
3. How Do I Make You Love Me?
4. Take My Breath
5. Sacrifice
6. A Tale by Quincy
7. Out of Time
8. Here We Go...Again
9. Best Friends
10. Is There Someone Else?
11. Starry Eyes
12. Every Angel is Terrifying
13. Don't Break My Heart
14. I Heard You're Married
15. Less Than Zero
16. Phantom Regret by Jim

Future weeks:
3/21: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Dre
Jay-Z
...Kanye
Kendrick

Someone double check that I'm not missing anything for the nominations so far

Garth Brooks - No Fences
Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Garbage - Version 2.0
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Knower - Knower Forever
The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno) - Cowboy Bebop
Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
Viktor Vaughn (MF Doom) - Vaudeville Villain
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

I also can't find No Fences - Garth Brooks is kind of notorious about not streaming

Sheep007 posted...

The genre has come a long way.

Eh, you really shouldn't take a single work as representative of its entire era. Several of the still best hip hop albums came out in the two years that followed and sound much closer to modern hip hop. Raising Hell was very specifically pushing a blend of rap rock that reads more as a gimmick these days. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Paid in Full, and Straight Outta Compton all hold up, as does "The Message" from four years earlier.

World

I listened to the album but I tend to do so while I'm working and wasn't paying close enough attention to notice the transitions so I'm probably not going to bother ranking the tracks. The music was fine enough if a little tiring by the end.

5-stars:
Spirited Away (my #3 movie all-time)
Princess Mononoke (#14)
My Neighbor Totoro (#85)

4.5 stars:
Nausicaa (#346)
Castle in the Sky (#539)
The Boy and the Heron (#643)
Howl's Moving Castle (#772)

4.0 stars:
Kiki's Delivery Service
The Wind Rises
Porco Rosso
Ponyo
The Castle of Cagliostro

They say it when you first use him in combat, well before you would have a need to be airborne.

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

What does this mean? The top 5 will be used for the next 5 weeks? Or am I reading it wrong?

Yes, though the specific number is not concrete.

Be the Cowboy track ranking

14. A Horse Named Cold Air (Track #11)
Score: 18 (Average Rank: 12.75/14)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy, Seanchan (#14)

13. Come Into the Water (Track #8)
Score: 25 (Average Rank: 11.88/14)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#9)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#14)

12. Lonesome Love (Track #5)
Score: 40 (Average Rank: 10.25/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, ChichiriMuyo (#14)

11. Old Friend (Track #3)
Score: 42 (Average Rank: 9.75/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#14)

10. Blue Light (Track #13)
Score: 49 (Average Rank: 9/14)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic (#13)

9. A Pearl (Track #4)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 7.75/14)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Sheep007 (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#13)

8. Why Didn't You Stop Me? (Track #2)
Score: 60 (Average Rank: 7.88/14)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#13)

7. Two Slow Dancers (Track #14)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 6.88/14)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#11)

6. Me and My Husband (Track #7)
Score: 66 (Average Rank: 6.88/14)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan, HBJDubs (#12)

5. Remember My Name (Track #6)
Score: 70 (Average Rank: 6.5/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#11)

4. Pink in the Night (Track #10)
Score: 85 (Average Rank: 5.13/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007, HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#10)

3. Washing Machine Heart (Track #12)
Score: 90 (Average Rank: 4.5/14)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#8)

FoolFantastic: I was curious why Washing Machine Heart had 600 million streams on Spotify; apparently it became a TikTok hit.

Sheep007: The bassline here is exquisite. Theres a ton going on in this song instrumentally, especially for something so short. Its amazing it doesnt feel messy in the slightest. I also love the crusty alarm coming in at the end.

2. Geyser (Track #1)
Score: 109 (Average Rank: 3.25/14)
Biggest Fan(s): PunishedJeezy, HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#8)

1. Nobody (Track #9)
Score: 119 (Average Rank: 2.63/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, FoolFantastic, Sheep007, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#7)

Fluttershy_Pony: This song was nominated way back at my first ranking topic and it was a real treat (which was probably ranked too low back then, but I digress). Even years later, I still kinda love this song and it was a nice treat to run into it again & finally see what the rest of the album was like.

Sheep007: Hits a perfect blend of wit, melodrama and sadness

Mitski - Be the Cowboy results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
PunishedJeezy (16)
FoolFantastic (22)
MaxGalactica (24)
Sheep007 (26)
Seanchan (34)
ChichiriMuyo (40)
Fluttershy_Pony (40)
HBJDubs (52)

General Album Comments

mcflubbin: Best song on Be The Cowboy is 'A Pearl', because Mitski looked me dead in the eye while she was singing it when I saw her in concert

jk it's 'Me and My Husband'

FoolFantastic: Mitski albums tend to be uneven (outside her most recent which I love beginning to end); the strong stuff here is fantastic, but half of it is whatever. It still works more than it doesn't due to the short length of everything. Her songs are always straight to the point.

Sheep007: This is a weird album which I think starts off fine, but really comes into its own by the end. The best songs dont start hitting til Me and My Husband, and theyre almost all very short, with only two longer than 3 minutes. It feels pacy as a result, and coupled with Mitskis lyrics being very sharp, the album feels snappy and as though its over very quickly.

Im not sure its my favourite album by her (Bury Me At Makeout Creek and Puberty 2 are both phenomenal, and I think theres more songs I love on them), but it has a lot of variety as well as having a little more mainstream appeal. It feels like pop-rock, definitely poppier than her earlier music, but I always enjoy artists who I cant pin down to one genre.

Seanchan: I have no strong feelings on this album, I guess I kind of liked it? It really made me want to listen to that Japanese Breakfast album again (which I did and enjoyed more than this). Nothing super memorable outside of Nobody. I'm not a fan of long albums, but on the other side, 14 songs in 32 minutes is kind of whiplash.

HBJDubs: Great opener, very good songs at the end, and then the middle is just kind of meh.

MaxGalactica: Tbh, Geyser and Nobody were the only songs to really stand out to me on this one. The rest just kind of existed. Similar to last week's album, but marginally better because of the two aforementioned tracks.

ChichiriMuyo: So this was an album, and some decisions were made. There were hints of things I like, but oh man... If I'm listening to this album as a whole, I kinda feel like I should call the cops to do a welfare check on the person who wrote these songs... This is worse than sad girl break up songs when you think about her saying she wants this person, but not for them to touch her, she's staying with her husband, she's desperate to be touched, desperate to be kissed... like, seriously, wtf?

You should include descriptions and sample tracks now if you are wanting them

THIS IS AN OPEN NOMINATION WEEK! EVERYONE CAN NOMINATE A SINGLE ALBUM TO COMPETE NEXT WEEK!
Feel free to PM me if you want your choice to be anonymous

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Thursday, March 14th at 8:00 AM Central Time; If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. Every few weeks, a nomination period will open; there may or may not be a theme. Each user can nominate one album. The following week, everyone will be able to rank their top ~5 among the choices - this will use a bottom-up scoring approach, i.e. voting for one album will give your #1 a single point, voting for five will give your #1 five points, so it is always better to vote for the maximum number of albums. The top ~5 will then be covered.
8. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible track list:
1. Dorset Perception
2. Star Shpongled Banner
3. A New Way to Say 'Hooray!'
4. Room 2
5. My Head Feels Like a Frisbee
6. Shpongleyes
7. Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness
8. Around the World in a Tea Daze
9. Flute Fruit

Current Cycle:
3/14: The Weeknd - Dawn FM
3/21: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

ChichiriMuyo posted...

I'm reconsidering. Maybe scrapping nominations after this cycle is the right thing. Not because obscure stuff shouldn't come up, but we sure are on a stretch of it.

Mitski is the exact opposite of obscure. Three of the tracks off this album have over 300 million spotify streams and she is currently among the top 100 most popular artists on Spotify based on monthly listeners. She has been a headliner at major festivals. She's not a full-on superstar, but she's definitely the next level down.

Reminder that the deadline is tomorrow morning (though if people forgot due to shift in deadline day, just lemme know - only 2 voting so far is highly unusual)

Bump

I was curious why Washing Machine Heart had 600 million streams on Spotify; apparently it became a TikTok hit.

Mitski albums tend to be uneven (outside her most recent which I love beginning to end); the strong stuff here is fantastic, but half of it is whatever. It still works more than it doesn't due to the short length of everything. Her songs are always straight to the point.

Nobody
Geyser
Washing Machine Heart
Me and My Husband
A Pearl
Why Didn't You Stop Me?
Two Slow Dancers
Pink in the Night
Remember My Name
Old Friend
Lonesome Love
Come into the Water
Blue Light
A Horse Named Cold Air

Huh, New Miserable Experience is Pitchfork's Sunday retrospective review this week

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/gin-blossoms-new-miserable-experience/

Seanchan posted...

I don't think there's anything really stopping anyone from nominating more obscure albums under the proposed new system. If it gets enough support, it could still be covered. You just maybe have to do a bit more "selling" to get it there.

That's my hope. If the top 4/5 get through each month, I'm sure one or two of those might be more obscure if the person convinces us. I want to be convinced into covering obscure favorites, not forced into it because someone only chose obscure favorites.

Well, if we do make the change, we will need two weeks to both gather nominations and then vote on them, so Dawn FM will probably still happen

ZaziGuado posted...

I'm very happy to see the user cycle going by the wayside. I never thought the intent of this series was to introduce people to new music but rather invite discussion of albums or artists of some repute. I know we switched to the user cycle from nominations so that people didn't have to be frustrated when their nominations are voted over constantly, but at least then there was a broader consensus on what people wanted to listen to and rank.

An idea for the new format could be to have a rotating theme each week and either come up with a list of albums that fit that theme or have people nominate albums that fit the theme and choose the top nomination. This would also allow people to plan ahead if they will want to participate in that week knowing what the theme will be ahead of time.

That was another option I was considering. Like, this will be alt. rock week and this will be music by women week and this will be 1980s week. But I kind of want to do it by month so we don't have to do this every single week.

And at least these options can have flexibility instead of a rigid 20+ week cycle. If one plan doesn't work as hoped, we can try another.

Antimatter - Saviour results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Sheep007 (10)
Fluttershy_Pony (14)
Seanchan (14)
ChichiriMuyo (16)
Johnbobb (16)
MaxGalactica (16)
HBJDubs (28)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: First listen done.

There was a point during that first listen that I would have just called this moody teenager shit. That's a bit invective though. This is certainly very moody stuff though. I was maybe getting into it a little near the end, so I'm interested to see how my feelings evolve on it.

Seanchan: I'm sorry, this album sucked. It's got such a depressing mood and it kind of made me angry forcing myself through it. I'll say that I genuinely enjoyed The Last Laugh and that song did a good job of balancing the instruments and the interplay of the male and female vocalists. If anything, it also put into even more stark relief how much I hated the rest of the album and never want to listen to again.

Fluttershy_Pony: Now, see, I love depressing songs--just take a look at Mega Mana's song ranking and see how often I praise sad lyrics because I can't shut up about them even at other people's topics. The way you speak of this album, it feels like something I should love... but it didn't work for me either. At no point did I feel any sadness or depression from anything. I wouldn't call them happy songs, but as someone who loves sadness and angsty teen music, I never felt like I got any of that from this album.

To be fair, I find the album more mid-tier and forgettable than something I actively dislike, but it's weird how this is somehow too depressing for some people & not nearly depressing enough for me.

ChichiriMuyo: This album is dark and dreary, and I absolutely did not want that when I went into this album. I, too, was thinking it was just moody teenager shit, though the more I listened the less it felt like it. With more thought, I felt like this would be great stuff for a survival horror game. Or maybe an anime about a child murderer or a murderous child. It really feels like they want the listener to feel uncomfortable.

MaxGalactica: Yeah, this album mostly went in one ear and out the other. Not a bad album, but it just didn't do much to resonate with me. God is Coming was pretty interesting though.

HBJDubs: im sorry no one liked the album (spotify must not care for it either, considering the transition between tracks is broken and "Pslams" is misspelled)

Johnbobb: I liked it!

Saviour track ranking

9. Holocaust (Track #2)
Score: 21 (Average Rank: 7/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007, Seanchan, ChichiriMuyo, HBJDubs (#8)

8. Going Nowhere (Track #9)
Score: 24 (Average Rank: 6.86/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, ChichiriMuyo, MaxGalactica (#9)

MaxGalactica: an apt description of the progression of this song

7. Flowers (Track #7)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 6.43/9)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007, Johnbobb (#9)

6. Angelic (Track #6)
Score: 34 (Average Rank: 5.14/9)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, MaxGalactica, HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#7)

5. Saviour (Track #1)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 5.14/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

4. God is Coming (Track #5)
Score: 44 (Average Rank: 4.86/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

3. Psalms (Track #4)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 4/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica, HBJDubs (#7)

2. Over Your Shoulder (Track #3)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 3.14/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#5)

1. The Last Laugh (Track #8)
Score: 71 (Average Rank: 2.43/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007, Seanchan, ChichiriMuyo (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#6)

Ragnarok Online II OST track ranking

20. Beginners (Track #4)
Score: 2 (Average Rank: 17.67/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, NFUN (#15)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica, Johnbobb, Sheep007, HBJDubs (#19)

MaxGalactica: Nice song, but it's a bit short-lived.

19. The Force Midgarts (Track #8)
Score: 3 (Average Rank: 16.17/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#13)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN (#18)

MaxGalactica: I love me some good bagpipes. I wish it were longer though.

18. 5 Year War (Track #10)
Score: 6 (Average Rank: 16.67/20)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#10)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#20)

MaxGalactica: Brooding mood-setter. I like the usage of timpani, but it's a bit of a weaker piece on its own.

17. Kings Joy (Track #9)
Score: 7 (Average Rank: 16.67/20)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#12)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#20)

MaxGalactica: Another Warsaw Philharmonic piece. Some strong orchestration over a short playtime. The horns, trumpets, flutes and other woodwinds, mallet percussion, and strings are all wonderful here.

16. Pub (Track #17)
Score: 12 (Average Rank: 17/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007, NFUN, HBJDubs (#20)

MaxGalactica: An example of Gabriela Robin's other style of singing, which is definitely not as good as her more ethereal, choir-like style, but I don't mind it too much. Still the e-guitar is the clear highlight of this piece for me.

Sheep007: Not sure about this one, chief. At least it's silly in a weird way rather than silly in an awful-sounding way.

15. Play Chess in the Air (Track #20)
Score: 17 (Average Rank: 13.17/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#16)

MaxGalactica: I love when albums/soundtracks close with ambient pieces like this (Illinois did this as well) that let you close your eyes, absorb the atmosphere, and reflect on what you've experienced over the course of the album. What a great way to end one of my favorite soundtracks.

14. Red Wolf (Track #11)
Score: 20 (Average Rank: 13/20)
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN, HBJDubs (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#18)

MaxGalactica: I like the reference to Intro Theme in the flute at 0:41. And the crescendo at 1:15 back to that theme is really well-done. The rest of the song is nice, although I wish it were more motivic.

13. Clap & Walk (Track #5)
Score: 26 (Average Rank: 12/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, MaxGalactica (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#18)

MaxGalactica: The time signatures on this one are pretty cool with the focus on 7/8 and pretty regular time changes, and Kanno does a great job of making the odd time feel natural. The acoustic guitar, strings, and accordion make a fantastic combination here.

12. Church (Track #12)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 10.5/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007, HBJDubs (#14)

MaxGalactica: A piano-centric playful piece in a style that Kanno has become known for over the last 15 years or so. I love the runs at 1:04 and the children's choir is really sweet-sounding.

11. Hold Your Life (Track #18)
Score: 34 (Average Rank: 10.5/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica, Sheep007 (#16)

MaxGalactica: The slow bagpipe motif is interesting, but I like the other aspects of this song more, especially the flute and cello solos.

10. Everland (Track #19)
Score: 42 (Average Rank: 9/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#12)

MaxGalactica: Kanno uses this bubbly synth a lot in her music, and I really like it. The guitar effects and children's choir are so good too. Very saccharine piece.

9. Poem (Track #15)
Score: 52 (Average Rank: 7.5/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#11)

MaxGalactica: The tavern-like solo acoustic guitar, double bass, and Robin's vocals create a lovely combination and make this one feel very comfy. The double bass solo in the second half is a highlight.

8. Swamper (Track #14)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 7.83/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#14)

MaxGalactica: Cool, muffled effect on the cello. Not a fan of the intro, but the rest is great, especially Gabriela Robin's vocals again. I love the way the twangy guitar was panned hard right too, making a neat effect in the mix.

7. Hodo (Track #3)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 7.33/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#17)

MaxGalactica: A slightly less-good celtic song than Din Don Dan Dan. But Gabriela Robin's vocals take a much more prominent role here. There's a lot to love in the rhythms and melodies in this one. The drum solo at 2:34 is a big highlight for me.

6. Sailing (Track #7)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 7.5/20)
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN (#1*)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#15)

MaxGalactica: With gapless playback, Yoru is supposed to seamlessly transition to this one, and it's one of my favorite seamless transitions in general. The ambient synths in the background add a lot of depth to Sailing. This one also has one of the stronger melodies in the soundtrack with the violin and tin whistle doubling on it. I love this one a lot.

5. Sara (Track #16)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 7/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#13)

MaxGalactica: The strongest pure Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra piece. Some absolutely gorgeous orchestration, motifs, and use of dynamics. Making the harp the centerpiece of this one was an excellent decision and really makes this piece stand out amongst the other Warsaw songs.

4. Prontera Field (Track #13)
Score: 61 (Average Rank: 6.33/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, HBJDubs (#11)

MaxGalactica: The looping of short samples in this intro and the way it builds into a very full sound is breathtaking. Later once the children's choir kicks in for the climax, it's really a special moment. Prontera Field is a song I'd consider pure ear candy, and I get something more out of it every time I listen to it.

3. Intro Theme (Track #1)
Score: 72 (Average Rank: 5.17/20)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN (#10)

MaxGalactica: One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The children's choir (called The Little Singers of Tokyo) is gorgeous and the string-writing and orchestration is so, so good. Fantastic melody too.

2. Din Don Dan Dan (Track #2)
Score: 77 (Average Rank: 4.67/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#12)

MaxGalactica: Love the celtic goodness in this one. The bassline is awesome, the fiddles are great, and the drums and guitars work well with the main parts. Then this song really shines when Gabriela Robin's (Kanno's pseudonym) vocals are added in. Very smooth key change at 3:35 too. Such a fun song.

1. Yoru (Track #6)
Score: 80 (Average Rank: 4.33/20)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, NFUN (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#10)

MaxGalactica: Ilaria Graziano is one of my favorite singers period. A good chunk of my favorite Kanno songs are sung by her. There's a lot of subtle detail in the songwriting and instrumentation of Yoru that really makes this song shine. The double bass and piano both have very poignant parts (I really love the piano's usage of major chords throughout, despite being in a minor key, it adds a lot of flavor to the piece) that stand out on their own. The tin whistle is a big highlight, as is the marimba solo at 2:47.

Yoko Kanno - Ragnarok Online II OST results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
MaxGalactica (42)
NFUN (50)
Sheep007 (56)
HBJDubs (66)
Fluttershy_Pony (80)
Johnbobb (90)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: ...it's really not doing this album any favors when it's inevitable that I'm going to compare it to the other "YouTube only video game" album we listened to not 2 weeks ago. While Follow Slowly is fun, energetic, and interesting, this is the exact opposite. Slow, plodding, and ultimately very boring for me.

I'll probably do another listen but I'm having a hard time seeing myself wanting to do a track ranking.

Fluttershy_Pony: I... think I like this album? It's just really long... I like half the songs, which means there's a lot here I enjoy! Also a lot that's... less good... it's just a lot in general. Still, I'd say I like this.

MaxGalactica: Yoko Kanno is far and away my favorite composer. Her compositional style really connects with me with its simplicity on the surface, yet complexity when you listen more carefully. She's produced 7 albums that I've rated 5 stars on RYM (this being one of them), which is way more than any other artist (no other artist has more than 2). Ragnarok Online II is a great showcase of her abilities in both orchestration and folk songwriting, with some hints of her synth abilities. Being the soundtrack for a canceled game, it didn't receive nearly as much recognition as it probably deserved. I'm very glad we got to cover it here and that you guys get the chance to at least be exposed to it.

Johnbobb: This soundtrack gives me big Nier Automata vibes, pretty solid.

Although can we please go back to doing albums that are on spotify

Sheep007: I could complain about having multiple VGM albums in quick succession, but honestly, this is fire. Gonna do one more listen tonight, instrumental tracks are always tricky to order.

Seanchan: I'm not going to submit a ranking this week.

I did do a 2nd listen and I'll pull back a bit on my initial negativity but there was still nothing here that I really latched onto. Given that and the combination of being long and instrumental, it's just not something I want to spend more time with. Din Don Dan Dan, Hodo, and 5 Year War were ones I was most positive on, while Yoru and especially Pub were very much the opposite.

Sheep007: Solid VGM album. Not totally sold on the choir, but the synths are gorgeous, lots of interesting instrument choices throughout, and it's long but not boring in the slightest.

NFUN: I've known D^4 for like 8 years now, and it's one of few songs that I adored back then that I still adore. The "epic violin battle theme" is increasingly cliched, so I was genuinely surprised about how much it holds up when I got to it. So much personality, and that didgeridoo[?] sweep is something so appropriate and unique that I don't understand why it hasn't been copied a thousand places elsewhere. It's bears some resemblance to Water that Connects Life from Cladun in its mood and quality, so maybe it just takes a jazz musician to soar in this field

Clap & Walk just feels like odd time for beginners, like you're at some square dance at your elementary school and the teacher is trying to teach you what time signatures are and how they can vary. Some folksy music is great and some isn't, so perhaps I'm just imagining the condescension because it'd fit in the latter category regardless

Sorry, Yoru and Sailing are inextricably intertwined in my mind. You can blame Max for that one. It threads being soft, subtle, and moving brilliantly. Even if it weren't my favorite of the album, it shows what Yoko Kanno is capable enough. In the hands of too many other composers it'd be generic, cheesy or boring see joe hisaishi, so props for making something that stands out so brightly while being so understated.

you should nominate all 200 songs of ragnarok online 1 next time

HBJDubs: Some bangers early on, but the rest of the album is just okay

I am making a few changes going forward.

I am now using Thursday as the update day instead of Sunday - I also want to get back to calculating the results while putting up the next topic. As such, the deadline will be 8 in the morning, so plan to get your votes in by Wednesday night. Thursday should work better for me, and I think it is probably best to give people the full weekend to listen instead of having the change happen during the weekend.

Secondly, I am going to make this the last user cycle. I want to get back to the first era where it felt like every album was something notable. I feel too many of us have been forcing through obscure favorites and while it's occasionally fun, it gets exhausting when we go several weeks in a row with nothing familiar. I have also eliminated the competitive rounds to get to the new phase faster.

I am not sure what the replacement will be. Right now, I'm leaning toward gathering a short list each month and then having us rank that short list; the top 4 (or 5) point earners will be that month's albums.

I would prefer to make this change now, but we have already determined the next two albums; how do others feel? Should we go through the next cycle and put off the change for half a year? Or should we make the change now?

Steiner's week:
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
vs.
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
vs.
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Thursday, March 7th at 8:00 AM Central Time; If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Mitski - Be the Cowboy track list:
1. Geyser
2. Why Didn't You Stop Me?
3. Old Friend
4. A Pearl
5. Lonesome Love
6. Remember My Name
7. Me and My Husband
8. Come Into the Water
9. Nobody
10. Pink in the Night
11. A Horse Named Cold Air
12. Washing Machine Heart
13. Blue Light
14. Two Slow Dancers

Current Cycle:
3/7: HBJDubs (Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible)
3/14: Fluttershy_Pony (The Weeknd - Dawn FM)
3/21: Steiner
3/28: Snake5555555555
4/4: ZaziGuado
4/11: firefdr
4/18: Johnbobb
4/25: FoolFantastic
5/2: Seanchan
5/9: Giggsalot
5/16: RyoCaliente
5/23: darkx
5/30: neonreaper
6/6: Great_Paul
6/13: jcgamer107
6/20: ChichiriMuyo
6/27: BlueCrystalTear
7/4: rwlh
7/11: NFUN
7/18: StifledSilence
7/25: MaxGalactica
8/1: Sheep007

Burial - Untrue > Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible > VNV Nation - Judgement

I feel the need to point out that while Burial is considered dubstep, UK and American dubstep are two completely different genres (the latter is occasionally referred to as brostep to differentiate the two). Burial is closer to ambient than it is to the American version of dubstep.

HBJDubs on the choices:

Going with some electronic music this time around. Shpongle represents psychedelic trance, VNV Nation is more on the pop side, and Burial covers dubstep (but more chill than someone like Skrillex). Some sample songs:

Shpongle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83Z1d1_ERo

VNV Nation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVf2EeTMNJo (You may have heard this one if you've played a certain game)

Burial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoPWr0jRzTQ

HBJDubs week:
Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible
vs.
VNV Nation - Judgement
vs.
Burial - Untrue

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, February 25th at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic. If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Antimatter - Saviour:
1. Saviour
2. Holocaust
3. Over Your Shoulder
4. Psalms
5. God is Coming
6. Angelic
7. Flowers
8. The Last Laugh
9. Going Nowhere

Current cycle:
2/25: Sheep007 (Mitski - Be the Cowboy)

Future Cycle:
3/3: HBJDubs
3/10: Fluttershy_Pony (The Weeknd - Dawn FM)
3/17: Steiner
3/24: competitive week
3/31: Snake5555555555
4/7: ZaziGuado
4/14: firefdr
4/21: competitive week
4/28: Johnbobb
5/5: FoolFantastic
5/12: Seanchan
5/19: competitive week
5/26: Giggsalot
6/2: RyoCaliente
6/9: darkx
6/16: competitive week
6/23: neonreaper
6/30: Great_Paul
7/7: jcgamer107
7/14: competitive week
7/21: ChichiriMuyo
7/28: BlueCrystalTear
8/4: rwlh
8/11: competitive week
8/18: NFUN
8/25: StifledSilence
9/1: MaxGalactica
9/8: competitive week

bump

New Miserable Experience track ranking

12. Cheatin' (Track #12)
Score: 14 (Average Rank: 11.25/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, MaxGalactica, Seanchan (#10)
Biggest Detractor(s): StifledSilence, Sheep007, Johnbobb, ZeroSignal, HBJDubs (#12)

11. 29 (Track #10)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 8.63/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, HBJDubs (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#12)

10. Cajun Song (Track #6)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 7.5/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): StifledSilence, MaxGalactica, HBJDubs (#11)

9. Until I Fall Away (Track #4)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 7.25/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#12)

8. Mrs. Rita (Track #3)
Score: 50 (Average Rank: 6.75/12)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence, MaxGalactica (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZeroSignal (#11)

7. Pieces of the Night (Track #11)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 6.88/12)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007, Johnbobb (#11)

6. Hands Are Tied (Track #7)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 6.75/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007, MaxGalactica, HBJDubs (#9)

5. Hold Me Down (Track #5)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 6.5/12)
Biggest Fan(s): ZeroSignal (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#11)

4. Lost Horizons (Track #1)
Score: 57 (Average Rank: 6.63/12)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#12)

3. Allison Road (Track #9)
Score: 59 (Average Rank: 5.75/12)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, HBJDubs (#8)

2. Found Out About You (Track #8)
Score: 105 (Average Rank: 2.13/12)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence, Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#4)

1. Hey Jealousy (Track #2)
Score: 107 (Average Rank: 2/12)
Biggest Fan(s): ZeroSignal, Seanchan, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007, MaxGalactica (#3)

Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
StifledSilence (14)
ZeroSignal (26)
HBJDubs (28)
MaxGalactica (28)
Seanchan (28)
Sheep007 (28)
Fluttershy_Pony (32)
Johnbobb (36)

General Album Comments

StifledSilence: When I imagine the 90s as a sound, it is the Gin Blossoms. They are the quintessential 90s band for me. I have flashbacks to when I was a kid when I hear these songs. Whether it be heading to school, or to the store, or wherever, songs like Hey Jealousy and Found Out About You were all over the radio at the time. This was especially true in my moms car, as she usually had on Mix 106.5, a station that played a lot of current stuff, mixed with select hits from other decades. If I had to make a soundtrack to my childhood, Gin Blossoms would have multiple entries. As time goes on, I become more and more nostalgic for those days. I miss them. And while Im making new, precious memories with my own kids, these songs take me back to a time where my mom and grandparents were making those memories with me.

Looking at these songs from a present-day lens, I appreciate them in new ways. As a kid, I thought the song Hey Jealousy was called Hey Josie for some reason. I meanhes singing to a girl. It kind of fits. But anyways, the title of New Miserable Experience definitely fits here. Akin to my own nostalgia, the members of the band seem nostalgic to the past. They long for old relationships ended, old places left behind, and even old time periods. Id drink enough of anything to make this world look new again, a line from Lost Horizons, paints that picture extremely well. The radio-friendly alt grunge has a signature upbeat despair, with the singer sounding like he has hit rock bottom while the band jumps ahead. Its beautiful in a way, the sadness on display.

Not a bad song here, although Ill admit the random country jam, Cheatin was a bit strange blended in with the others. The singles are very strong, with two of them being easy choices to go 1 and 2. It was hard to place the others, however. They are all quite good.

Fluttershy_Pony: I quite like this album

Sheep007: Didn't really do it for me. A few toe tappers but not super memorable nor a particularly unique sound. It taped off a little at the end for sure.

Johnbobb: Ranking this album was difficult because I kept forgetting the song I'd been listening to seconds after it ended. That sounds like an insult, and I guess it is, but it's not untrue. Normally I'm a big 90s alternative guy, but this album just kinda felt really samey. Hey Jealousy is still a bop though.

MaxGalactica: Not sure how I feel about this one. Lost Horizons is the only track that stood out to me, and the rest of it was fine and palatable, but it's not really anything that I'd ever want to go back to on my own. Just kind of an album that exists to me.

Seanchan: Sometimes there's the perfect word to encapsulate your feelings on an album. That word, for me, is anodyne. This is the quintessential 106.7 Lite FM of an album. It is acceptable, fang-less, decent in the moment, and forgettable minutes later.

As others have said, it all gloms together, which makes doing a ranking difficult. And then there's that one completely out of place country song; no idea what to make of that one.

HBJDubs: Good ole contemporary rock. Not a memorable album outside of Hey Jealousy, but it's an easy listen.

Follow Slowly track ranking*

*as NFUN did not rank beyond #15, I handled the data as I do with the 20+ song albums - as such, there is no detractor or average rank as I lack a full data set (since both #16 and #17 receive 0 points, the actual score is still correct)

17. Regression (Track #17)
Score: 15
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#11)

16. Boundary Line (Track #1)
Score: 17
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#6)

15. Flying Soda (Track #5)
Score: 25
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#7)

14. Slowly (Track #7)
Score: 29
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#8)

13. (Track #8)
Score: 46
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#3)

12. TWINKLING Other Side Edition (Track #6)
Score: 49
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#2)

11. Time Again (Track #16)
Score: 50
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, NFUN (#4)

10. Chrono Diver - Fragment- (Track #2)
Score: 52
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)

9. Esperanza (Track #10)
Score: 55
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#2)

8. Element of Spada (Track #14)
Score: 55
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN (#2)

7. Envidia (Track #9)
Score: 59
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#2)

6. (Track #11)
Score: 60
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007, MaxGalactica (#3)

5. Following Flow (Track #3)
Score: 61
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007, Fluttershy_Pony (#1)

4. Scars of Fauna (Track #15)
Score: 64
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN (#3)

3. Symmetry (Track #12)
Score: 67
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#2)

2. Fallen Leaves (Track #4)
Score: 81
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan (#1)

1. Despair of Elferia (Track #13)
Score: 104
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, MaxGalactica, NFUN (#1)

Nekomata Master - Follow Slowly results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
HBJDubs (50)
MaxGalactica (52)
NFUN (52 or 54)
Johnbobb (58)
Seanchan (60)
Sheep007 (66)
Fluttershy_Pony (102)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: Only on the 4th song but this is some bangin' ass shit so far! It's too bad it being on YouTube and being 75 minutes long means I'll probably only do two listens.

Is this the soundtrack from a game or something? I feel like I need some more info on what I'm listening to.

NFUN: The songs are just full-length, from a bunch of different bemani games

Seanchan: Very enjoyable overall. It's not quite as fast and frenetic in the last third but that's probably a good thing as fatigue started to set in with the length of the album.

Johnbobb: Fun fact when you google "Nekomata Master - Follow Slowly" this topic is the 8th result

Johnbobb: Can't imagine this is going to get as many listens as usual given the format, but I really dug it. It's a shame it's NOT on Spotify because a few tracks would've gone on my liked songs playlist

HBJDubs: I love rhythm games so this is right up my alley. Lots of great stuff here, with the former VGMC champion taking the top spot here.

MaxGalactica: Good, well-produced album. I particularly enjoyed the top 7 in my ranking. The second half was definitely stronger than the first half, which I feel isn't all too common in albums. And Despair of ELFERIA has grown on me quite a bit since I first listened to it a little over a year ago. The guitars, synths, and occasional flutes were all really well-done. Nice album pick.

Fluttershy_Pony: Good album, though rather difficult to rank. I like everything roughly the same amount, which leads to my ranking feeling a tad arbitrary... but after four listens, this is where things have wound up.

Seanchan: Very, very good album overall. Tough to rank the middle of the list. I do wish it was a little shorter, both on song length and overall album length. And I wish there was an easier way to listen than just Youtube, but at least the album was worth the extra bit of effort!

Fluttershy on this week:

"It's concept album week! Featuring three different levels of concept intensity:

amo is *allegedly* a concept album about love, but there's no story & several songs that don't appear to be about love at all, so my personal reaction is "no, it isn't". A concept album in name only, for those who don't want a concept album.

Dawn FM is a concept album about a radio station that plays while your soul is in purgatory, but that story is mostly used as a vehicle for some of his best work and it features some big singles. It's the perfect middle ground, able to appeal to those who want an album focused on hits & those who prefer albums with a theme.

The Father of Death is an epic Rock Opera which is *extremely* theatrical, complete with written narration to set the stage of each song. Unlike the other two albums, this one goes all-in on the story; one of my favorite albums ever and an option for those who want their concept albums to tell a complete story with actual defined characters.

Full description of albums with example songs will be posted in the topic when the nominations go up; I've typed up way too much to fit into a PM."

Fluttershy_Pony's week:
The Weeknd - Dawn FM
vs.
Bring Me the Horizon - amo
vs.
The Protomen - Act II: The Father of Death

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, February 18th at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic. If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Yoko Kanno - Yoko Kanno - Ragnarok Online II O.riginal S.ound T.rack track list:
1. Intro Theme
2. Din Don Dan Dan
3. Hodo
4. Beginners
5. Clap & Walk
6. Yoru
7. Sailing
8. The Force Midgarts
9. Kings Joy
10. 5 Year War
11. Red Wolf
12. Church
13. Prontera Field
14. Swamper
15. Poem
16. Sara
17. Pub
18. Hold Your Life
19. Everland
20. Play Chess in the Air

Current cycle:
2/18: HBJDubs' bonus (Antimatter - Saviour)
2/25: Sheep007 (Mitski - Be the Cowboy)

Future Cycle:
3/3: HBJDubs
3/10: Fluttershy_Pony
3/17: Steiner
3/24: competitive week
3/31: Snake5555555555
4/7: ZaziGuado
4/14: firefdr
4/21: competitive week
4/28: Johnbobb
5/5: FoolFantastic
5/12: Seanchan
5/19: competitive week
5/26: Giggsalot
6/2: RyoCaliente
6/9: darkx
6/16: competitive week
6/23: neonreaper
6/30: Great_Paul
7/7: jcgamer107
7/14: competitive week
7/21: ChichiriMuyo
7/28: BlueCrystalTear
8/4: rwlh
8/11: competitive week
8/18: NFUN
8/25: StifledSilence
9/1: MaxGalactica

The competitive weeks have been weird because I feel like the people choosing more notable works all faced each other.

Anyway, 6 of these 25 albums are in my all-time top 100 and I have a few other favorites. It definitely feels like our weirdest batch, and probably our least 'rock.'