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Irish Aris's Walrus: The Reveal

Irish Aris

Hello everyone and welcome to my Walrus reveal.

We have 21 Gamers - in order of submission:
Necro
Shane U
Electric Nitwit
JP Liz V1
Also Starring LeVar Burton
s1ippy
beakerjoe
Gru
Sawduck
Homer J. Fong
Mustang Shelly
Kolido
RasTa
Green&Red
lassykk
JohnGreenFan
Osh
phatkev
Zaph
the purple tin
fixXxer

A reminder on the categories:

1. The Fantastic 80s: I was a teenager in the 80s and it was when I started listening to music, so many of my favourite artists and albums are from that era. So simple enough, I’m looking for any song released in that decade.

2. The Irish Aris Connection: I moved to Ireland on October 2011 and because of all the concerts I started listening to a lot of new music. So for that category I’m looking for songs that were released from October 2011 and later. Songs can be by any artist (not just Irish artists) and obviously album tracks are allowed.

3. It takes 2 to make it right: Here I’m looking for duets and collaborations. It could be a straight forward duet (i.e. Elton John and Kiki Dee) or a collaboration (i.e. David Guetta feat. Whatever vocalist is popular). You could also select collaborations with 3 or more people, instrumental collaborations (i.e. Eno and Fripp) or even a duet between 2 lead singers of the same band (Fleetwood Mac pun intended)

4. That’s Not My Name: Simple enough: A song with a name in the title. I will also allow songs with the word “name” in the title.

5. Body of Evidence: For this one I’m looking for songs that mention any part of the human body in their title. And similar to the previous categories with the names, I will also allow songs with the word “body” in the title.

6. The Lasting First Impression: I like listening to albums from start to finish and it is always nice when an album gets to a great start. So for this category I’m looking for songs that open their respective albums and you consider them great openers. The idea here is to make me want to listen to the whole album and expand my music library further!!

7. Preach to the unconverted. . .or the choir: This is like a wildcard category. Give me a song from one of your favourite artists, one that you think everyone should listen to. This could be your chance to prove me wrong on some of the genres that I mentioned as not being a big fan of, so anything goes!!!

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Also Starring LeVar Burton

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 2nd place, submitted by
Also Starring LeVar Burton
, Local Natives-Gulf Shores

The second great discovery of this list. It started a bit slow but at 1:12 the most amazing synth line comes in and takes the song to a whole different level. There are also some very interesting background voices on the 1:35 mark that add more variety to the song. Another great choice and another song that goes directly to my playlist. It came very close to the top spot, in the end it fell just short of it.

Whoop!

Thank f**k for that. Would've killed me if this had come last - one of my favourite songs. Saw them live twice, the second time was towards the end of last year, and was just a phenomenal gig.

phatkev

Love Khruangbin!! A band I've been trying to squeeze into a Walrus for ages, just never got the right time to do it

Irish Aris

In 2nd place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Local Natives-Gulf Shores

The second great discovery of this list. It started a bit slow but at 1:12 the most amazing synth line comes in and takes the song to a whole different level. There are also some very interesting background voices on the 1:35 mark that add more variety to the song. Another great choice and another song that goes directly to my playlist. It came very close to the top spot, in the end it fell just short of it.

Irish Aris

In 20th place, submitted by

the purple tin

, Khruangbin feat Leon Bridges-Texas Son

This sounds as if it came straight from the 70s. A psychedelic rock sound that it’s not my thing at all. The opening guitar riff reminded me of Calexico, but as soon as the drums kicked in and then the voice, the song lost me.

Irish Aris

In 3rd place, submitted by

s1ippy

, Gorillaz feat. Slowthai and Slaves-Momentary Bliss

. I like Damon Albarn and how versatile his musical output is. But I don’t think I know more than a couple of Gorillaz songs and they weren’t in my radar for many years. This was a recipe for disaster: the weird electronic sound of Gorillaz combined with the rapping of Slowthai and the punk rock of Slaves. Well, to my surprise, it all works splendidly. Albarn combines all elements beautifully and the end result surpassed any expectation. Great choice and I’m already exploring all the Song Machine singles for more surprises.

Electric Nitwit

Ha ha, oh well!
Nothing ventured, nothing gained :pac:

It's a compliment that I thought you might like it... I think

Irish Aris

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Me and my Indie Rock song are not feeling confident anymore...

You should be. . . or maybe not???

Irish Aris

In 19th place, submitted by

Electric Nitwit

, Human Impact-November

True to his word, EN submitted a song that meets my definition of noise. The issue I had with this song is that the vocals are not only a bit harsh but they also getting lost in the mix. If this was an instrumental it would have scored a few places higher (I reckon around mid-table) because the melody, though a bit heavy, is something that I had enjoyed in the past in post rock bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky and the Constellation Records roster. But the vocals killed the mood and the song never escaped the bottom 3.

Electric Nitwit

Irish Aris wrote: »

...before 2 new discoveries made their way into the top-3

:pac:

(I genuinely have no idea how mine will have been received, I'm not surprised to be in the last 6 anyway!)

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Me and my Indie Rock song are not feeling confident anymore...

Irish Aris

Time for the top-3 and bottom 3.

In alphabetical order we have:
Also Starring LeVar Burton
beakerjoe
Electric Nitwit
RasTa
S1ippy
the purple tin

Irish Aris

In 4th place, submitted by

fixXxer

, Florence and the Machine-Shake It Out

I love, love, love Florence. An amazing singer and performer with an overall great body of work. Shake it Out wouldn’t be my favourite song of hers, but it is nevertheless a great song that was in contention for the top spot, before 2 new discoveries made their way into the top-3.

Irish Aris

Apologies, a dear friend called me, we continue now.
In 18th place, submitted by

Mustang Shelly

, Pvris-Half

When the guitar started the song, I thought that this might be something in the darkwave/gothic rock. Alas, the direction quickly moves to a generic indie rock sound with touches of shoegaze in a couple of places. Another song that the vocal mix hurt it, I just thought that there was too much going on and got the feeling that it was over produced. But because of that opening guitar riff, I make a mental note to check what else Pvris have in offer.

phatkev

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 16th place, submitted by
phatkev
, Animals as Leaders-Woven Web

This one benefited from being an instrumental. The sound is a bit too progressive rock/metal for my liking but the lack of voice helps concentrate on the music and there are some good ideas in the song, it’s not just a heavy guitar sound. It started as a bottom 3 candidate but managed to stay out of it and gain a couple of places towards the end.

Ah I always knew this was a riskier option giving the fact you told us you weren't a massive metal fan, but this is just too good a piece of music not to get a feature in a walrus!! That "bass" part (its actually the low string of an 8 string guitar) that comes in around 1:30 blows my mind every time i hear it

[Deleted User]

12th out of 21 isn't so bad.

But this.....

Irish Aris wrote: »

Though the tempo of the song is in no mans land,

....cannot go unchallenged.

This started from the lower ranks and jumped a couple of places after every listen.

You should've listened to it at least 5 more times before the Reveal then. :cool:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Starting to get very nervous...

Irish Aris

In 5th place, submitted by

JP Liz V1

, Fun. feat. Janelle Monae-We Are Young

Fun. were one of the first bands I discovered after I moved to Ireland. At the time this song was everywhere and I liked it so I bought their album which I found very good, with Some Nights being my favourite song of theirs. In hindsight I think it is a tad overplayed but it is a song that if it comes in a bar on a night out with my friends we would all dance to it. Plus the epic lyric line “My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State”.

Irish Aris

In 17th place, submitted by

Gru

, Mkai-Nothing Lasts Forever

Another song that I didn’t find memorable enough. Run-of-the-mill indie rock that sounds like many other rock songs. The intro is nice but after that it kept fading in the background in comparison to the other rock songs in this list.

Irish Aris

In 6th place, submitted by

Sawduck

, Of Monsters And Men-Crystals

Though I didn’t know this song, I feel that I have heard it recently, it sounds familiar. This was the biggest climber on this list. Initially it was nowhere near top-10 but with every listen I liked it more and more. I was always under the impression that Of Monsters and Men are too folky for my liking, but this song is anything but folky. Plus I love Iceland and always on the lookout for artists from there.

Irish Aris

In 16th place, submitted by

phatkev

, Animals as Leaders-Woven Web

This one benefited from being an instrumental. The sound is a bit too progressive rock/metal for my liking but the lack of voice helps concentrate on the music and there are some good ideas in the song, it’s not just a heavy guitar sound. It started as a bottom 3 candidate but managed to stay out of it and gain a couple of places towards the end.

Irish Aris

Green&Red wrote: »

Very harsh!!

Saw them at Other Voices in Ballina this spring, they were the highlight IMO

I think it just got unlucky in the moment, on another day it could have been higher. This is another band that I made a mental note to search a bit further after I finish the Walrus.

Green&Red

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 15th place, submitted by
Green&Red
, The Howl & The Hum-The Only Boy Racer Left On the Island

This was the song that gave me the hardest time to place. There is a great melody and Sam Griffith’s voice sounds quite nice. I just felt that it took a long time to get going. The first 90 seconds were an average slow tempo, and only after that the song really lifted off nicely, before ending to a rather obvious and somewhat unnecessary crescendo. It kept moving around outside the top-10, before settling in 15th place (and as I type this and listen to the song I think again that I may have been harsh with this place. . . )

Very harsh!!

Saw them at Other Voices in Ballina this spring, they were the highlight IMO

Irish Aris

In 7th place, submitted by

Kolido

, Paramore-Still Into You

I discovered Paramore with their 2017 album After Laughter and enjoy their uplifting happy sound-Rose Coloured Boy is my favourite song of theirs. I didn’t know Still Into You and it didn’t disappoint: a song that makes me wanna get up and dance. Plus I like Hayley Williams’ voice.

Irish Aris

In 15th place, submitted by

Green&Red

, The Howl & The Hum-The Only Boy Racer Left On the Island

This was the song that gave me the hardest time to place. There is a great melody and Sam Griffith’s voice sounds quite nice. I just felt that it took a long time to get going. The first 90 seconds were an average slow tempo, and only after that the song really lifted off nicely, before ending to a rather obvious and somewhat unnecessary crescendo. It kept moving around outside the top-10, before settling in 15th place (and as I type this and listen to the song I think again that I may have been harsh with this place. . .

)

Irish Aris

In 8th place, submitted by

lassykk

. Breaking Benjamin-Ashes of Eden

I don’t think I have ever heard a Breaking Benjamin song before. On the first listen I was really impressed by Benjamin Burnley’s voice. The song itself is a typical power ballad without any significant crescendos, but there is a brilliant string section that elevates it nicely. And at the last listen it managed to go up a few places.

Irish Aris

In 14th place, submitted by

osh

, Low-Part of Me

There is nothing particular I didn’t like about this song. Just that I didn’t find it memorable enough. When I listened to it I liked what I was hearing, but if you’d asked me 10 minutes later I wouldn’t be able to tell you what was going on. One of the bands though that I will keep in my radar for future reference.

Zaph

the purple tin wrote: »

I can't remember what mine is for the life of me.
A few days after i enter a walrus I complelely forget what i entered

I'm the same. For this round I checked what the category was a few minutes before the start and knew which band I'd entered, but I couldn't remember which song.

the purple tin

Irish Aris wrote: »

I hope I won't disappoint you. There are some poppier songs further up but also some rock songs that made a great impression on me.

I can't remember what mine is for the life of me.
A few days after i enter a walrus I complelely forget what i entered

Irish Aris

In 9th place, submitted by

JohnGreenFan

, Delorentos-Right To Know

This made a good first impression on me. A solid melody that though never strays far away from the main rock concept, is interesting enough and I liked the bridge around the 2:15 mark and the build up back to the main melody. For a while it lingered outside the top-5 but lost a couple of spots towards the back end of business.

Irish Aris

Green&Red wrote: »

If that’s 11th and 12th there is some serious competition here

I hope I won't disappoint you. There are some poppier songs further up but also some rock songs that made a great impression on me.