So we already had a new Continental Recfast tournament on the Sputnik Music website, the second of 2020. And I already got eliminated, this time in the third round (my earliest elimination ever.)
Sharkattack gave up the contest. (He offered it to me, but I always feel funny running a contest that relies on my own taste. Also, I can barely keep up with my own music, let alone listen in depth to a bunch of recs made by my fellow Sputnik Music Users.) So a different User, bloodshy took it over. This was OK, except I had to try to attune myself to the tastes of a completely new person.
Bloodshy likes a lot of Metalcore, which, of course, I'm lost on. But I also noticed that he gave 5 ratings to bands like Beach House and Eisley, so I figured I could work with that.
I made it through the first two rounds, North America and Europe, with bands like Future Bible Heroes and Deep Cut. But he threw us a curveball in round 3, and named the "continent" as outer space. (This meant that the artist had to have a celestial body in their name, or make a lot of space music.)
I considered several different options. I thought about going with the eponymous Walk the Moon LP, but there was nothing in bloodshy's ratings history to tell me he had any interest in that kind of light alternapop. I thought about the Venus Hum album Big Beautiful Sky, but after listening to it, decided it wasn't consistent enough. I thought about my old friends The Space Robot Scientists and their first album (which featured, among other treats, the classic "Fuck You Doctor.") But bloodshy seems to loathe punk, so I figured he wouldn't like them. I even considered Jefferson Starship's Red Octopus album (which would have netted me a + .2 bonus to my score, because it wasmade prior to 1998). But again, I saw no indication that this would have been a good match for his musical preferences.
In the end, I went with another classic album by a Long Island band, Zia's gem, Big Bang! As it turned out, I lost because bloodshy hated Elaine Walker's vocals, although he did kind of like the track "Space Man". Oh well. Maybe next time.
Pity, because the next continent he named was Australia, and I felt like I had a winning pick here, the new LP by Cut Copy. (You'll likely be hearing more about this one in a few months when I start posting my Best of 2020 lists.)
Anyway, here was my breakdown of the albums I rec'd and bloodshy's rating (out of 5):
