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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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Irish Aris

In 12th place, submitted by

JP Liz V1

, Avril Lavigne-Head Above Water

Initially I had it in my list as a song that I didn’t know. But I have definitely heard this before – I wonder if it was in a different competition in here? I have only connected with her and her music briefly with “The Best Damn Thing” album. I liked this one, great melody in this one and liked the lyrics too. I like her voice in general, I feel that often she sound as if she oversings a bit, but not to the point of losing the balance, more like a singing style. A good choice, a song that started lower and went up a few places and a great opportunity for me to reconnect with Lavigne.

Irish Aris

In 10th place, submitted by

s1ippy

, Frightened Rabbit-Good Arms vs Bad Arms

Before listening to this song, the only time I have heard a Frightened Rabbit song was the cover of Keep Yourself Warm from The Twilight Sad – and through them I found out of the death of Frightened Rabbit’s lead singer Scott Hutchison. Though I liked that cover and it suits The Twilight Sad’s sound I never searched Frightened Rabbit further. Here s1ippy suggested this acoustic live rendition and I think it was a good call as the album version wouldn’t necessarily have caught my attention. There is a certain fragility in Hutchison’s voice in this version that makes me warm to him, although this “man with his guitar” thing doesn’t appeal to me very much lately. This is one of the songs and bands that I expect will occupy my time a lot in the future.

Irish Aris

In 13th place, submitted by

beakerjoe

, Linkin’ Park-Hands Held High

I will admit that I didn’t remember this song, although Minutes to Midnight is an album that I really like. I think this is because at the time I was obsessed with Chester’s voice and this song is a Mike Shinoda song. This wouldn’t be out of place in Shinoda’s side project Fort Minor’s album, The Rising Tied. His rapping is very solid in this one and the rest of the vocals match the rhythm nicely.

Sawduck

Necro wrote: »

You and me both Shelly

Haha none of us seem confident in our song choices this round

Irish Aris

mustang shelly wrote: »

I don't think my song will go down too well.

Necro wrote: »

You and me both Shelly

Sawduck wrote: »

Haha none of us seem confident in our song choices this round

there were 6 songs in this list that I didn't particularly like and you will see during the reveal that there is a repeated pattern. For a couple of them I predict a riot - thus the helmet gif in the beginning of today's reveal. . .

Irish Aris

In 9th place, submitted by

ShaneU

, Bruce Springsteen-Hungry Heart

Not much to say about this song, I really like it. A solid Bruce number, one that I know very well – this familiarity actually hurt its place in this list. It started from higher but as some of the songs I didn’t know grew on me, it lost a couple of places.

Zaph

Irish Aris wrote: »

there were 6 songs in this list that I didn't particularly like and you will see during the reveal that there is a repeated pattern. For a couple of them I predict a riot - thus the helmet gif in the beginning of today's reveal. . .

Oh dear...

Irish Aris

In 14th place, submitted by

Osh

, Stereolab-Lo Boob Oscillator

I have never listened to any Stereolab music, I always had in my head that they were a bit avant-garde and could never find a proper music phase to start listening to them. I liked this one in general. There is a very interesting change halfway through the song, it felt like it was 2 different songs. I also liked Laetitia Sadier’s voice. There was a lot of competition in the category and I wasn’t able to place it higher, but it definitely drew my attention to Stereolab and I will check them out further.

Irish Aris

In 8th place, submitted by

lassykk

, Goo Goo Dolls-Iris

The second appearance of the Goo Goo Dolls classic in this Walrus ends a place higher than the first attempt. I was intrigued when I saw the song in 2 different categories. I read the story behind the lyrics and it appears that the song has been inspired by singer Iris DeMent. Since iris is also in the human body I allowed it in both categories. This is definitely a song that benefits from repeated listening and I expect to listen to it more in the future as contrary to the majority I wasn't familiar with it.

Electric Nitwit

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

Irish Aris

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

I just can't stop laughing at this!!!

Irish Aris

In 15th place, submitted by

JohnGreenFan

, Ben Howard-Bones

In a different playlist this could have flirted with the bottom 3, but it benefited from standing out as one of the very few more acoustic songs. The sound gets very close to folk territory and that hurt the song’s chances to finish higher, but I really liked his voice and will probably check what also he has offered.

Electric Nitwit

I considered Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard

Irish Aris

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

I considered Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard

I will give it a listen, very intrigued by his voice

Irish Aris

In 7th place, submitted by

Sawduck

, Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne-Close My Eyes Forever

A superb power ballad, and a great duet between 2 very good voices. This was released at a time where (aged 16) I was investigating as much music as possible and this rock sound really appealed to me. This would have placed very well in the duets category too, where Sawduck got unlucky with his selection.

Electric Nitwit

Irish Aris wrote: »

I will give it a listen, very intrigued by his voice

It's a really good song, but they're wasn't enough swearing and violence in it for my liking

Irish Aris

In 16th place, submitted by

Green&Red

, Arctic Monkeys-Mardy Bum

Initially I found Arctic Monkeys interesting when they exploded with their debut album (it coincided with my noughties rock phase), but I grew out of them very quickly. I actually tried to reconnect with them a few years ago and even went to see them live in Marlay Park, but it didn’t go any further than that evening as I found them a bit dull live (I actually found Miles Kane more interesting in that concert). This is from the debut album and I vaguely remembered it. It has a nice melody and I can understand why I listened to them at the time, but does nothing for me at the moment.

Irish Aris

In 6th place, submitted by

Kolido

, Firehouse-When I Look Into Your Eyes

Firehouse were another band that I discovered during my exploration of power rock sound, that also gave me Lita Ford (and the Vixen). I only have their debut album (I really liked All She Wrote at the time) but by the time they released their second album in 1992 my interest has moved elsewhere. This is another great power ballad, one that I could listen to frequently, no matter what the mood.

Irish Aris

In 17th place, submitted by

Deleted User

, Sky Ferreira-Heavy Metal Heart

I have heard her name but have never listened to any of her songs. I find her voice quite interesting, sounds like she has great vocal range and the production allows her to showcase this. The song itself didn’t make a great impression on me, there were some good ideas on how to use Ferreira’s voice, overall though I found it a bit repetitive.

Irish Aris

In 5th place, submitted by

fixXxer

, Death in Vegas-Hands Around my Throat

In his second attempt to convince me of the greatness of Death in Vegas, fixXxer succeeds. I don’t have any Death in Vegas album and have never included them in any of my playlists, but I feel that I have heard this before, possibly from my clubbing days back in the day. The intro melody sets the tone nicely, the instrumental bridge around the 3-minute mark has a great urgency about it without becoming chaotic and I like Nicola Kuperus’ voice.

Irish Aris

In 18th place, submitted by

Gru

, Snow Patrol-Hands Open

I was always indifferent to Snow Patrol, find them a bit dull. This was mildly interesting, with a solid guitar riff and great energy, but got lost between too many rock songs.

Electric Nitwit

Irish Aris wrote: »

In his second attempt to convince me of the greatness of Death in Vegas, fixXxer succeeds

Love the tactics :pac:

Irish Aris

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

Love the tactics :pac:

I have a better one: someone send me 3 songs from the same band!!! Big gamble if I don't like the band at all, chance for great benefits (for them and me) if I do.

Irish Aris

In 4th place, submitted by

RasTa

, Talking Heads-Crosseyed and Painless

The second Talking Heads song to be submitted in this competition. I didn’t remember this one. This is from Remain in Light, one of their best albums, which I haven’t heard in years (probably that’s why I didn’t remember the song). RasTa sent me the link for this live version from Stop Making Sense. Another case in point of my opinion of how great an arranger and performer David Byrne is. The song sounds good in the studio album but goes to a whole different level in this live version. This was around the time when Byrne was exploring a lot of world music sounds and the percussion here give a latin feeling.

Irish Aris

last 6 standing:
Also Starring LeVar Burton
Electric Nitwit
Mustang Shelly
Necro
phatkev
Zaph

Tauriel

Irish Aris wrote: »

last 6 standing:
Also Starring LeVar Burton
Electric Nitwit
Mustang Shelly
Necro
phatkev
Zaph

Oh boy!

Electric Nitwit

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

Even more true now

Zaph

Irish Aris wrote: »

last 6 standing:
Also Starring LeVar Burton
Electric Nitwit
Mustang Shelly
Necro
phatkev
Zaph

Zaph

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 4th place, submitted by
RasTa
, Talking Heads-Crosseyed and Painless

The second Talking Heads song to be submitted in this competition. I didn’t remember this one. This is from Remain in Light, one of their best albums, which I haven’t heard in years (probably that’s why I didn’t remember the song). RasTa sent me the link for this live version from Stop Making Sense. Another case in point of my opinion of how great an arranger and performer David Byrne is. The song sounds good in the studio album but goes to a whole different level in this live version. This was around the time when Byrne was exploring a lot of world music sounds and the percussion here give a latin feeling.

Great shout, it's an amazing song and the live version is brilliant

Irish Aris

In 19th place, submitted by

Mustang Shelly

, Delain-Your Body is a Battleground

I liked the female vocals on this one, it gave me a feeling of listening to Nightwish of earlier years. I didn’t like the male guest vocals though - interestingly enough, they are from Nightwish’s Marco Hietela. Overall I found this a bit loud and it didn’t make an impression even after repeated listening.