LogFAQs > #888536486

i like these top 2 a lot, kept going back and forth listening to both:

(1st) The Fratellis - Medusa in Chains
Damn I love Jon's vocals. Costello Music and Here We Stand are two of my favorite albums ever, but I was never able to get into We Need Medicine at all, and wasn't even aware of the album this song is from. The final song on Here We Stand was kind of foreshadowing for the more piano-driven sound the band would take on. This song has some interesting, quirky chord progressions, reminiscent of Jack White's "Hypocritical Kiss", which similarly has funny little piano noodling on the high end. White is obviously a pretty big influence for the band. Upon first listen I just longed to hear a classic, guitar-driven Fratellis song, but this quickly grew on me, the delivery of the title lyric has great feeling, and the chorus overall is memorable. Based on this, I should definitely check out Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied. Has a fitting tone for the last song of the playlist.

(2nd) Erin and the Wildfire - Great Love
Great classic soul feel with brooding organ chord progression. This chick almost belts out like, Amy Winehouse-level vocals. Shit, now I just really want to hear Amy lay down the vocals on this. The rhythm and delivery on "Lah-ove, lah-ove, lah-oooooo" is friggin' great though. It's so money that I initially didn't really welcome the 4/4 shift, but the.....muted trumpets(? maybe), vocals and guitar are very good there.

(3rd) The Helix Nebula - Crystal Plains
Love the harp, Zelda-y intro. I'd have preferred if it had gone in a more VGM direction than straight-up metal. I like when it locks into 6/8 briefly about 2 minutes in, and the 4/4 shortly after. The wandering guitar solo about 3:20 in is nice. Reminds me of this instrumental on Guitar Hero III, Endless Sporadic or something like that. Gets extra cool at around 4:30. By the end though, it lacks any core, memorable parts, and feels almost just like an exhibition of how good the guitarist is.

Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley PTA
I do like these Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash-style folk/rock songs that tell a story. There's better examples of them than this, but it's pretty good for what it is.

Aladdin Original Broadway Cast Recording - Friend Like Me
It's really weird and difficult to gauge a musical number against mostly rock songs. At first I was put off simply by it not being Robin Williams, and feeling like there's no reason to ever have anyone else sing it, but it won me over a bit when they got meta and the guy sang the excerpts from other Disney movies, that was good. Overall it's unnecessarily long though.

Bubblemath - Destiny Repeats Itself
Really cool syncopation throughout most of the first half. Unfortunately, to me it devolves too much into chaos and gets a little too dissonant, perhaps fittingly after the line "it just gets worse" at around 3:30. I do however, like the nihilist lyrics.

Neon Indian - Annie
Decent dance-pop. Falls short of like, early-MGMT or Junior Senior tier. Not especially interesting, but groovy nonetheless.

A Blaze of Feather - Carousel
Nice synth tones & drumming. Vocals aren't remarkable but suffice, I guess. I've heard worse hipster rock.

Native Construct - The Spark of the Archon
Thank you so much for submitting 9 minutes of prog-metal. The part at 3:40 is cool, nice strings, and 7:20's not bad, but a lot of the rest of it makes me not want to be able to hear. It's like the musical equivalent of rambling on and on without really saying anything of substance.

Pat Benatar - Treat Me Right
Standard, completely forgettable pop song
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special shout outs to DpObliVion and JDTAY, who did well in the contest and normally play the piano when these scenes play