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Soundoffs 105 News Articles 23 Band Edits + Tags 3,536 Album Edits 216
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Last Active 12-09-22 12:08 am Joined 08-22-13
Review Comments 40,388
| Round 5: Inverted Umbrella Competition
2 are out and 13 are still in. Not lateness disqualification this time! Yay! The new deadline to get your round 2 songs in is 5pm EST on November 26th! I'll make it an easier one fo the Holidays | 1 |  | The Olivia Tremor Control California Demise
The rules are the same as last round:
1.Link a song via YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, DailyMotion, Vimeo... or whatever you like as long as I don't have to download something.
2. This round is [Indie Pop/Indie Rock]. I don't know what indie is, but indie rock is on my pie chart! Indie rock, indie pop, indietronica, I guess indie folk, slacker rock, twee pop, chamber pop. Anything like that I guess.
3. Aim to impress me with what you pick, since I'm rating these.
4. If I know the song already, I'll tell you to pick something new, otherwise, you're good.
5. I'm going to start each new round every Sunday night (EST,) so if you're late, you're out. My 1-2 least favorite recs will be eliminated each round (1 if we don't get a lot of people and 2 if we do.)
***Winner of the competition can recommend me whatever 2 albums they want and I'll listen to them no matter the album as long as it's possible to find and as long as neither exceeds 3 hours.*** | 2 |  | Fishmans Uchuu Nippon Setagaya
JohnnyoftheWell: āWeather Reportā
The drums are cool. This is very different from Long Season. That one background sound reminds me of an owl cooing. A lot of ideas are coming in an out and most are working pretty well. Canāt say Iām in love with this, though. Didnāt overstay its welcome despite being almost 9-minutes, maybe thatās due to it dichotomy of being active and placid.
3.4/5 (SAFE) | 3 |  | The Church Starfish
SlothcoreSam: āDestinationā
Jangle pop elements, but still dreamy. I find this one kind of like drying paint, like a way plainer less gothy Cure.
3/5 (SAFE) | 4 |  | The Field Mice Missing The Moon
Havey: āMissing the Moonā
Is this too jittery and fast paced to be dream pop? I know the vocals are ethereal, but nothing else here is. I guess the chorus is now that it came up. I donāt like this at all regardless. Itās corny and clubby? I canāt stare up at the ceiling to this!
2.5/5 (ELIMINATED!) | 5 |  | Sol Seppy The Bells of 1 2
PotsyTater: āMoveā
Spooky voices and string, but trip hop drums? Hmmm. I feel like this would fit on a playlist with Sneaker Pimps. Itās good enough.
3.5/5 (SAFE) | 6 |  | Pure Bathing Culture Night Pass
Kompys2000: āBlack Starlingā
Modern band, but total 80s worship. This is like āmomā music. I feel like itās trying to be dreamy, but ultimately comes off tacky instead. Like am I watching a commercial right now?
2.7/5 (SAFE) | 7 |  | Tiny Hazard Tiny Hazard
CugnoBrasso: āMountain Songā
This is very intimate. I like the buildup. Very pretty vocals. Itās quiet, but it keeps my attention.
3.9/5 +(0.5 from winning last round) = 4.4/5 (SAFE) | 8 |  | LSD and the Search for God LSD and the Search for God
someone: āthis timeā
Shoegeazy, but not in an overdoing it way. I guess more on the Slowdive side than the MBV side. Itās fine. Slowdive-tier.
3/5 (SAFE) | 9 |  | American Football American Football (LP3)
BlazingBlitzer: āSilhouettesā
Well Iām not one for midwest emo, so letās hope this isnāt that. Itās dreamy enough to count. Itās very twinkly, and the vocals arenāt whiny. Very wintery aesthetic. Itās not bad, but not really for me.
3/5 (SAFE) | 10 |  | Tusks Change
fogza: āChangeā
Very sparse so far. Has a modern āslightly deviant fromā top-40 pop vibe to it. I feel like Tusks is likely a Lana Del Rey fan, and Iām not sure how to feel about that. Pretty good pickup. Maybe makes up for the drab simplistic majority of it.
3.1/5 (SAFE) | 11 |  | Julianna Barwick The Magic Place
protokute: āThe Magic Placeā
Echoey a cappella only so far. This may be a tough pill to swallow, but I donāt think this is dream pop? Seems like an indie interpretation of Gregorian Chant. Hildegard von Bingen would approve of this for her church. RYM says this is ambient pop, but honestly where's the pop? I gotta take a point off for this not being dream pop.
2.5-0.5=2/5 for not really being the right genre (ELIMINATED!) | 12 |  | The Blue Nile Hats
Mort.: āThe Downtown Lightsā
Feels very 80s cheese. Sophisiti-pop or whatever. This is kind of corny if Iām being honestly. Iām sure I like dream pop guys, but these picks are missing the mark so far. Boring, but inoffensive.
3/5 (SAFE) | 13 |  | Anemone (JPN) Anemone
ffs: āDreaming Dreamā
This is pretty. Yet again, very 80s, but in a bette way than most so far! Her voice is pretty and the bass is nice. Not amazing, but nice enough!
3.6/5 (SAFE) | 14 |  | His Name Is Alive Livonia
GhandhiLion:
āIf Julyā (by His Name Is Alive from Livonia)
This has 70s contemporary folk vibes alla Joan Baez. Not a complaint, itās working! The atmosphere is sparse, but intriguing. Relaxing, but mysterious.
4.5/5 (ROUND WINNER! [+0.5 will be added to his next round score]) | 15 |  | Honeydip Portable Audio Science
Porcupinetheater: ā26:15ā
Very chill. Kind of gazey, but in a very stripped backway. The production is very ārecorded in tunnelā, but I suppose thereās been worse songs with that production. Decent, but not really my thing.
3.3/5 (SAFE) | 16 |  | The Chameleons Script of the Bridge
BitterJalapenoJr: āUp the Down Escalatorā
More 80s āThe Cureā style dream pop. The Cure have their moments, but I never adored them. This is a bit more frantic than I want from dream pop, but I suppose itās decent.
3.2/5 (SAFE) | |
ArsMoriendi
11.20.23 | GhandhiLion's song destroyed everyone else's
protokute and Havey have been eliminated
No one was late... as a Thanksgiving gift, I picked a really easy genre from my list | protokute
11.20.23 | eh. i knew I had stretched the concept for this one, i just picked what sounded the most dreamy from the stuff i like | SlothcoreSam
11.20.23 | Ok I'm gonna go
Wire - Outdoor Miner.
If you don't know it,
https://open.spotify.com/track/45cPDq4BPDvpXA8X0VQ0sN?si=K1GTkOe6Rc-mZ4tWWSYg1Q | ArsMoriendi
11.20.23 | I do not know it
Wire makes indie? :o aren't they a 70s band
EDIT: wtf is RYM claiming Wire invented indie? what | SlothcoreSam
11.20.23 | I invented Indie, sooooo let's go with it.
This song is a bit of an outlier from them, but their style is all over the place.
It sounds like an earlier version of of Montreal.
| Kompys2000
11.20.23 | You had better ding 0.5 for major label releases this round I WILL argue semantics with u >:]
Dr. Dog - The Ark (in shock that someone as Beatlespilled as u has zero Dr Dog ratings???)
https://youtu.be/SNP168Rvfh8?si=lJe60fk51aI08KpM | ArsMoriendi
11.20.23 | Only Dr. Dog I know well is "The World May Never Know"
I've flirted with the idea of hearing all of Easy Beat
| JohnnyoftheWell
11.20.23 | buke and gase - hard times
https://bukeandgase.bandcamp.com/track/hard-times-3 | myri14
11.20.23 | Helvetia - The People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehHT8vi0QUk | ArsMoriendi
11.20.23 | @myri14: I'll listen to it right now and give my thoughts, but this competition was only accepting new people during round 1
EDIT: this is cool, fuzzy slackery chillness. The personality really works here | myri14
11.20.23 | Oh oops, sorry! | BlazinBlitzer
11.20.23 | Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
https://open.spotify.com/track/3vbxQpZdIXJ3oALBd8OyQ6?si=7f1e53a48d404329 | ArsMoriendi
11.20.23 | @Blitzer: for a second I thought I knew that one, but I was mistaking it for Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!, so you're good | Havey
11.20.23 | my strat was just to rec something far away from shoegaze, but i guess "clubby" was a bad direction... | Mort.
11.20.23 | fuck off is blue nile 80s cheese
goddamn ween child | Mort.
11.20.23 | cant find the song but i can find the album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-TjbKjd_ZI&t=1433s
its 'stepkids in love' starting at 9:43 | someone
11.20.23 | i'll take a gamble and go for a local art pop / chamber pop thingie all in Czech
https://barazmekova.bandcamp.com/track/karl-n | BitterJalapenoJr
11.20.23 | https://open.spotify.com/track/72WzLBoSQggMZ0S5hm95VH?si=BCzD6wl5QbS5ILlwKCL-zQ | ArsMoriendi
11.21.23 | "my strat was just to rec something far away from shoegaze, but i guess "clubby" was a bad direction..."
Yeah, I suppose I mainly said that cuz I didn't want MBV or Slowdive clones | porcupinetheater
11.21.23 | I just want to survive until the noise rock round š° | fogza
11.21.23 | Crack Cloud - Post Truth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmgxcnlecqM
Leans a bit post punk but also indie rock / pop | ArsMoriendi
11.24.23 | Still waiting on:
PotsyTater
CugnoBrasso
ffs
GhandhiLion
Porcupinetheater | CugnoBrasso
11.24.23 | I'll go with this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84bRdCXMwsY | ArsMoriendi
11.24.23 | @Cugno: you won't believe it, but I know that song WELL cuz of user robertsona, gotta repick
Seen 'em both live in separate acts too (Lily during a Halloween set where she covered Liz Phair and as part of Paberta and Nate as half of Water from Your Eyes) | ffs
11.24.23 | juniore - panique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVPcvTZAmSA | CugnoBrasso
11.25.23 | This is unbelievable... Ok then, this one is way more famous but maybe you don't know it yet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plANodQSEOc | porcupinetheater
11.25.23 | https://open.spotify.com/track/0bxy2swCknUtX0XWNKobBo?si=xEJu5BFsQtCzVQnFlWbfRQ
Aight Iāve gone for a couple safer recs this comp, so letās switch it up and take a big ol swing.
Roselit Bone - Surgeonās Saw
Not traditional indie rock by any stretch, shades of mariachi and gothic country, but itās independent as holy hell and the thing sounds like a blood soaked surrealist gothic nightmare full of drama and warped vignette imagery. One of my fave tracks of the last 5 years, hope you like! | porcupinetheater
11.25.23 | Oh wait I think I already recād that in an old Sotd competition so if itās not fair game, ima keep the vibes in the same arena cause why not
Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots - Amen Corner
https://open.spotify.com/track/0vFabeTqtOtj918sjc5vYo?si=PmZKLdiLT1GFtYg6ngbMBg | ArsMoriendi
11.25.23 | @Cugno: I do not know that one, so you're good
@porcupinetheater: I do not know either, so I'll go with the first because it seems like you want it more | porcupinetheater
11.25.23 | Yay bless | GhandhiLion
11.25.23 | Juliana Hatfield - Forever Baby
https://youtu.be/zKbR8jCmjsI?si=KtrsCnMBx7NyIe1S | ArsMoriendi
11.26.23 | Only waiting on Potsy who has 8 hours left | Mort.
11.26.23 | go kiss him on the mouth | ArsMoriendi
11.26.23 | Lol
37 mins til heās disqualified for being late | Kompys2000
11.26.23 | I'm so peeved u didn't fuck w pure Bathing Culture lol pseudodreamy tacky momgaze 4 lyfe | ArsMoriendi
11.26.23 | Here we gooooooo | ArsMoriendi
11.27.23 | I don't get why this round was full to the brim with elephant-6 style indie that would've been an easy way to score high... oh well, results up soon | fogza
11.27.23 | It's weird I really thought my indie pick might do well this time, ah well |
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