A Brand New Continent. (But It Sunk Too)

 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):

Round 1 - North America - Future Bible Heroes - Memories of Love (USA) 4.2

Round 2 - Europe - Deep Cut - Different Planet (England) 4.1

Round 3 - Outer Space - Zia - Big Bang! (Outer Space) 2.8 (Eliminated)

I always feel if I'm going to lose, at least let it be with an album (or song) that I like. I've always loved Big Bang!, and especially tracks like "Nibiru", "Plastic" and "Space Man". So it's all good.

August 2020 Song of the Day

So we've made it through almost 6 months of the COVID. Woo hoo! Anyway, August kind of sucked for me as far as SOTD went. I had one of my lowest monthly scores ever, and I didn't like the winning song at all. (My recs were impeccable, of course.)

Anyway, yeah, Song of the Day. For new readers, this refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month, one user hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The list of August songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day - August 2020.

1. The theme for the month was Unlikely Collaborations and/or Featured Artists.

2. I got to make two recs this month, and went with two of my favorite artists. The first was "Time Stands Still" by Rush (featuring Aimee Mann), and the second was "A Rose By Any Name" by Blondie (featuring Beth Ditto of Gossip). The Blondie song scored a respectable 3.08, but Rush only scored a disappointing 2.56. What was that old quote about pearls before swine? (Bitter much, Rich?) Rush - Time Stand Still (featuring Aimee Mann); Blondie - A Rose By Any Name (featuring Beth Ditto).

3. The song I rated highest was "Un Hombre" by Exquirla (which is a collaboration between Toundra and Nino de Elche) Exquirla - Un Hombre.

4. However, the highest rated song of the month was "Crystallise" by Keleketla! (which is a collaboration between Coldcut, Tony Allen, Shabaka Hutchings, Antibalas and South African rapper Yugen Blakrok). I have to tip my hat to this song, as it won the month certainly no thanks to me; I only rated it at 1.7. It's a mixture of atonal jazz and hip-hop, two of my least favorite genres. Keleketla! - Crystallise.

5. 29 of the 31 recs for the month are available on YouTube. The link for the YouTube playlist is August 2020 Song of the Day YouTube playlist.

I'm hoping for a better September, as my overall average score for August was only 2.65. Most months average higher than 3. 

So that's it for now. See ya soon.