ArsMoriendi
Cyan isn\'t a shade of blue.
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Last Active 12-09-22 12:08 am
Joined 08-22-13

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11.30.24 SECRET SANTA ALBUMS 2024! ♦11.21.24 Your favorite triple album?
10.21.24 Cyan09.09.24 I hate moving so often ♦
08.16.24 Either/Or quick rank07.19.24 Combining Up+Reveal
06.28.24 Love Heart Cheat Code Ranked After 2 li06.08.24 Low Effort Pride Month post
04.30.24 Ranking Butthole Surfers Studio stuff ♦03.22.24 Sputnik’s Sacred Clowns
03.21.24 Pram02.19.24 ###NeoFoLK TaG FeST
02.15.24 idiotican can't take criticism01.08.24 Inverted Umbrella 2023-24 Results: ♦
01.01.24 25 most listened to songs in 202312.31.23 Round 11: Inverted Umbrella Competition
12.25.23 Round 10: Inverted Umbrella Competition12.17.23 Round 9: Inverted Umbrella Competition
More »

Umbrella Contest 2020 Round 2: Pastoral Umbrella

2 have been eliminated and 25 remain.
1Donovan
Sunshine Superman

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. The genre this round is Folk. Anything from traditional cultural music to contemporary folk. Folktronica, Folk rock, folk metal, traditional music from any country, whatever, chances are if you genuinely think it's folk of any kind: it counts.

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 Tuesday night, so if you're late, you're out. My 2 least favorite recs will be eliminated each round.

***The 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 not impossible to find..***
2Ulver
The Assassination of Julius Caesar

garas
“Rolling Stone” Live

The drums and clinking glass-sound is cool so far. This doesn’t make me think of pop at all so far though. Okay, I guess it does in an 80s new wave way actually. Somehow still these vocals still make me think of progressive metal even though the music is far from metal. I’m not a fan of these vocals much at all honestly. Man this is boring though. Not for me.

2.5/5 (Passed to next round)
3Jenn Champion
Cool Choices

budgie
“Tell Me”

Pretty piano intro so far. The vocals are whatever. I like the production though and the synths are pleasant. Kinda weird that Sputnik doesn’t have a synthpop tag though, isn’t it? I like it enough.

3.4/5 (Passed to next round)
4Shiina Ringo
Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

JohnnyoftheWell
“Shuukyou”

Wow, intense intro. This is constantly changing. Bombastic strings, explosive guitar, and now an elegant cheerful section. Is that a synth-mellotron? Now you got my attention. Overall, this was good, but not amazing.

3/5 (Passed to next round)
5Eels
Beautiful Freak

SlothcoreSam
“Novocaine For The Soul”

Ooh, that pickup is awesome. Only a minute in and I’m sold. Reminds me of Wilco if Jeff Tweedy had a sore throat. I like the 3 Wilco albums I’ve heard. Ooh, I like that guitar too. And the simple drums work well. Ooh and a string section at the end is a nice touch.

4.5/5 (Passed to next round)
6Clarence Clarity
No Now

Pangea
“The Gospel Truth”

This is starting off like a bad fever dream. Hah these vocals are awkward as hell. I don’t like the production on this. Everything is mixed so high. Loudness war type stuff. I don’t like screamy wined vocals even if the music is weird and experimental in a good way. I feel conflicted on this, but it’s overall a no.

2.4/5 (Passed to next round)
7Daniel Land and The Modern Painters
Love Songs for the Chemical Generation

JustJoe.
“Glitterball”

Twinkly shoegazy dream pop? Kinda boring. This is so “uplifting” sound-wise, that if you swapped out the vocals for clearer vocals about worshipping Jesus, people at some Church would love this.

2.7/5 (Passed to next round)
8Robovine
Get Dusted!

GhandhiLion
“How to Start a Business”

Ooh this reminds me of the band Of Montreal. This is fucking cool musically too. It’s bright and psych pop, but still distinctly modern and electronic. The vocals are awesome and weirdly robotic. Poppy bass guitar section? Nice! Also there’s a distinct bossa nova beat mixed in there? Also neat! Why isn’t this more popular on Sputnikmusic? This is damn near perfect. God, this is just pandering to me perfectly.

5/5 (ROUND WINNER, handicap (for others) of +.05 for the next round)
9Daoko
Shiteki Ryokou

Uzumaki
“24h” (ft. Yoh Kamiyama)

Listening to this on Spotify, because I don’t have Apple Music. This sounds like Foster the People so far, a guilty pleasure band of mine… whoa except with female Japanese vocals. Okay. Musically, this is fairly bland and vocally it doesn’t stand out much either. Oh no, why is she rapping? Gross, that doesn’t work at all.

2.4/5 (Passed to next round)
10The Field Mice
Sensitive

Sinternet
“Sensitive”

Very R.E.M.-like guitar line. The vocals are pretty typical and the mixing isn’t the best. I guess it’s going for shoegaze again? It’s not bad, but this isn’t exactly something I’d go out of my way to listen to.

3.2/5 (Passed to next round)
11Johnny Marr
Playland

Divaman
"Easy Money"

Now this one sounds like radio rock. Yeah, this is about as boring and commercial as music can get without going full Imagine Dragons.

2.5/5 (Passed to next round)
12The Cleaners From Venus
Midnight Cleaners

NeroCorleone
“Corridor of Dreams”

Post punk? This is pretty fun. Very simple melody. Not much else to say.

3.6/5 (Passed to next round)
13Caribou
Swim

Botulist
Caribou - “Odessa”

I like the bass and the drums and the vocals are nice. That weird sound that sounds like a weird squealing rodent isn’t really my favorite, but I guess I don’t hate it. Song didn’t change much, but it was good enough yeah.

3.2/5 (Passed to next round)
14Envelope Generator
Songs I Hate

Lord(e)Po)))ts
“Emasculine”

80s synths so far, okay. This is from 2019? Wow, it sounds like it could be from 1985. Is this Greta Van Fleet, but for people who liked Soft Cell in their youth instead of Led Zeppelin? Whatever it is, it sounds uninspired. Harmless, though I suppose if it came on at some club I’d be like “okay why not?”

2.5/5 (Passed to next round)
15Grimes
Miss Anthropocene

neekafat
"4ÆM"

Ballsy move since I can’t stand any of the songs I’ve heard from Art Angels. Oblivion from Visions is cool. This is very mellow and therefore rather tolerable. I guess Grimes is decent when she isn’t shouting or trying too hard to seem cute.

3.3/5 (Passed to next round)
16Balthazar (BE)
Fever

Trifolium
“Entertainment”

Again, this sounds so generic to me. Like what can I say about this? The vocals, drums, and guitar are all so plain.

2.5/5 (Passed to next round)
17Ultraista
Sister

Minushuman24
Ultraista - “Tin King”

Off the bat I like the bass groove. Her voice is nice and I like the click-clack of the percussion. It’s very bright sounding, but also super intense. This would make for good workout music. This is cool.

3.7/5 (Passed to next round)
18Idlewild
Hope Is Important

ReturnToRock
“Chandelier” (Piano Version)

A simple piano ballad. Good emotion though I don’t exactly love the vocals. It being short and sweet is certainly a strength for this style, but it’s also totally not for me.

2.9/5 (Passed to next round)
19Serge Gainsbourg
Histoire de Melody Nelson

dedex
“Melody”

Wow that bass sounds good. Groovy man. The vocals are mixed so much higher than everything, but it’s also super clear sounding. Odd. Kinda pushin it for “pop,” but hey so were some of the other recs. Pop is a loose term I suppose. Nice cello. This is clearly awesome though. It has a slow burning epicness to it and it reminds me of a song I can’t quite place. WAIT NOW I REALIZE IT SOUNDS LIKE “PAPER TIGER” BY BECK AND I LOVE THAT SONG OH MY GOD WAIT WAIT WAIT WAITTTT “Paper Tiger” heavily samples a song from this album, but not this one. What the actual fuck. Dude. I liked this.

4/5 (Passed to next round)
20Aldious
Unlimited Diffusion

davezillaMP3
"Without You"

Japanese pop punk? The type that would be the intro for an anime? Gross. I don’t like anything about this. The clapping makes me like this even less.

2.2/5 (ELIMINATED)
21Simge
Ben Bazen

Bedex
“As Bayrakları”

Percussion is catchy. I don’t like how the vocalist sounds like she’d act a warm up act for Shakira though. Man, I’m sorry, but this is just generic dance-pop, but in a different language. Not for me.

2.3/5 (ELIMINATED)
22The Raspberries
Raspberries

Protokute
“Go All the Way”

This is fine. This seems like the kinda romantic ballad someone’s mom remembers dancing to at the uh… what were dance clubs called before disco was a thing, but after sock hops weren’t really a thing? Whatever, I kinda found this boring.

2.6/5 (Passed to next round)
23George Clanton
100% Electronica

Ryus
" It Makes The Babies Want To Cry"

Another song from the 2010s that sounds like it’d be from the 80s, but this one somehow also manages to sound modern at the same time? 80s nostalgia revival stuff was never really my thing though honestly. Like George Clinton > George Clanton, bring back P-funk. I don’t know. I will admit though, that this does have a lot of personality compared to the other 80s worship pick.

3/5 (Passed to next round)
24U.S. Girls
In A Poem Unlimited

ZombieToyDuck
“Pearly Gates”

This is the chick that made that song that sounded like a bad Minnie Riperton impression! Oh, I made fun of that song once… what was it called? "4 American Dollars!" This is way better than that though. Good percussion and record scratching that works. The vocals are engaging too. Maybe I was too quick to judge her music from that other song.

3.6/5 (Passed to next round)
25Asobi Seksu
Citrus

Aberf
“Lion & Tigers”

This is very pleasant. Almost like a lullaby. More shoegazey dream pop. Shoegaze isn’t gonna get you a high score unless it’s crazy like Mercury Rev’s Yerself Is Steam though honestly. This is pleasant though. That’s like all it is. I want more I guess.

3.1/5 (Passed to next round)
26Kero Kero Bonito
Bonito Generation

Avagantamos
“Picture This”

Is this that shrimp lady? This is perky. Is she throwing in Japanese lyrics? Cutesy pop has no effect on me if that’s all there is to it.

2.4/5 (Passed to next round)
27Prefab Sprout
Jordan: The Comeback

bgillesp
“Wild Horses”

User Frippertronics tried to get me into these guys once. His voice jumps from being plain to being a bit weird. I can appreciate that. Not really my thing overall though, but t’s good enough.

3/5 (Passed to next round)
28Kevin Ayers
Joy of a Toy

Zig
“Girl on a Swing”

This is pleasant so far. The guitar feels like it’s a liquid. Ooh backmasking is cool. Yeah, I like this, but don’t love it.

3.7/5 (Passed to next round)
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