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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

OK, so we don't have a 4th place. As I mentioned earlier we had a song that was nominated twice and occupies the 3rd spot.
7 people now waiting to hear their results:
Green&Red
Kolido
lassykk
Necro
s1ippy
ShaneU
the purple tin

Irish Aris

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Saw them live the last time they played in Dublin there a couple of years ago. Absolutely phenomenal gig, great energy to them.

I can imagine!!
I will go as far to say that this was the greatest new discovery of the whole Walrus, fair play!!

Irish Aris

In 18th place, submitted by

JohnGreenFan

, All Time Low-Weightless (from the album Nothing Personal)

I don’t mind the occasional pop punk in my playlists, I like the energy that bands like All Time Low have. This falls under this category, but I wasn’t really excited about it – I liked it when I was listening to it but it didn’t stay long with me, I kept forgetting about it. But I think they are promising so I will check them out a bit further.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Irish Aris wrote: »

In 5th place, submitted by
Also Starring LeVar Burton
, Everything Everything-Cough Cough (from the album Arc)

What a belter of a song and a cracking opening track!! Any song that is structured around drums gets my full attention straight away and for 45 seconds this song has nothing else but drums and voice. Even in the rest of the song drums are left right and center with all the other instruments being supportive of this great rhythmic track. This is a song that will be stuck on repeat for years to come. I have never listened to anything from Everything Everything but not only I plan to get all their discography but also see them live when they will come to Dublin next year (coronavirus permitting of course). It came very close to break the undisputed top 3 (more on that in a few minutes) and that says a lot.

Saw them live the last time they played in Dublin there a couple of years ago. Absolutely phenomenal gig, great energy to them.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Irish Aris

In 5th place, submitted by

Also Starring LeVar Burton

, Everything Everything-Cough Cough (from the album Arc)

What a belter of a song and a cracking opening track!! Any song that is structured around drums gets my full attention straight away and for 45 seconds this song has nothing else but drums and voice. Even in the rest of the song drums are left right and center with all the other instruments being supportive of this great rhythmic track. This is a song that will be stuck on repeat for years to come. I have never listened to anything from Everything Everything but not only I plan to get all their discography but also see them live when they will come to Dublin next year (coronavirus permitting of course). It came very close to break the undisputed top 3 (more on that in a few minutes) and that says a lot.

Irish Aris

In 17th place, submitted by

Sawduck

, Led Zeppelin-Good Times Bad Times (from the album Led Zeppelin I)

I don’t consider myself a big fan of the Led Zeppelin sound, this 70s hard rock music doesn’t appeal to me at all. But I like Robert Plant’s voice, I think one of the best voices in rock – and the rest of the band are very good musicians, so a classic case of admiring them but not loving them. I have heard this one before but not in many years. A nice short song, which opened their debut album and gives a good preview of things to come.

Irish Aris

In 6th place, submitted by

Deleted User

, Interpol-Untitled (from the album Turn On The Bright Lights)

Another interesting selection. I have their debut album but didn’t find it particularly good at the time (I think it was a couple of years before I went through my 00s rock phase) so I didn’t bother with them any further and I never revisited that album. Probably high time that I do, because I really like what I hear. The guitar work on this one is excellent and I like how the mood changes throughout the song especially in the instrumental parts – the long outro is really good.

Irish Aris

In 16th place, submitted by

Osh

, Stereolab-Brakhage (from the album Dots and Loops)

Third and final appearance of Stereolab in this Walrus. There is a bit of a paradox here: although it is the lowest scoring Stereolab song, it is the one that intrigues me the most. I think it just got unlucky being in a very strong category/playlist. The song itself isn’t exactly what I would normally think a great opener. This kind of mid-tempo rhythm can sometimes be easy to forget. Not here though, as there many interesting elements that I have associated with experimental electronic music. The one thing that I didn’t like was the extended use of the vibraphone (or is it a marimba? I always confused the two): it’s a sound that I find difficult to warm up to and I had the same issue when I went through a jazz phase in the early noughties. Nevertheless, a very interesting song and probably the Stereolab album I’m more interested to explore.

Irish Aris

fixXxer wrote: »

You've said that about my last two picks and that's honestly better than points. War of the World's is a matter piece, with Thunder Child possibly being my favourite track off the album.

Yes, your selections were very off the beaten track, but none of them out of bounds. Metallica remains the biggest surprise, a song that I started listening to with a bit of bias against it, and I loved it. I know some more points would have been great, but you definitely fulfilled the idea of introducing me to new music!

Irish Aris

In 7th place, submitted by

Zaph

, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions-Perfect Skin (from the album Rattlesnakes)

If I had done this Walrus 3 years ago, this song would have been to the lower ranks, as I have never explored or admired that indie/guitar pop 80s sound. Since then I have discovered (and in many cases loved) many of the artists that play around this type of sound: The The, Deacon Blue, Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera to name a few. Lloyd Cole is next in line. I actually listened to his latest, very interesting album Guesswork last year and now I plan to explore his old catalogue, starting with the 3 Commotions album. This is a great song, it has this very distinctive guitar pop sound that was very prevailing at the time, especially in the Scottish and Northern England music scenes. And I love his voice in this one. A great choice of a song, 80s rule!!!

fixXxer

You've said that about my last two picks and that's honestly better than points. War of the World's is a matter piece, with Thunder Child possibly being my favourite track off the album.

Irish Aris

In 15th place, submitted by

fixXxer

, Jeff Wayne-The Eve of the War (from the album The War of the Worlds)

This is an album and song that I have never heard of, although it transpired that it is quiet famous. There are many things that I liked about this one: the space disco sound of the music, the narration of Richard Burton and the repeated motifs which in their majority are really catchy. The singing parts are probably the less interesting aspect of it. Although it got stuck in the lower places, this is something very interesting and I plan to listen to the whole album – but after I acquaint myself H.G Welsh’s novel (I checked and have never read it).

Irish Aris

In 8th place, submitted by

Mustang Shelly

, Evanescence-Going Under (from the album Fallen)

A great song and great album opener. From the first second Amy Lee’s voice is everything in this song. I have seen them live the year after they released this album and she sounds incredibly live. I also like the balanced production on the whole album: her voice is center stage but doesn’t overshadow the rest of the instruments and everything falls into place nicely.

Irish Aris

In 14th place, submitted by

RasTa

, Radiohead-2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) (from the album Hail to the Thief)

After the. . . ehm. . . debate that My Iron Lung’s placing caused in a previous category, 2+2=5 does better. I have mentioned that I got interested in them from the Kid A album onwards when they introduced electronic elements. Hail to the Thief was a return to a more rock sound, but the use of electronic sounds is still obvious. Not everything is perfect here (Yorke’s voice sounds whiny at some parts) but I liked the drum parts (in the first minute or so it sounds like a drum machine, not sure if that’s the case or not) and I really liked the “explosive” part between 1:55 and 2:25.

Irish Aris

In 9th place, submitted by

beakerjoe

, Years and Years-Sanctify (from the album Palo Santo)

I don’t think I have heard this song before, if I have it never registered with me. I have the debut Years and Years album but didn’t think too much about it, so when Palo Santo came out I didn’t give it a chance. Based on what I heard here, a mistake that I need to rectify. The chorus is one of the catchiest in this list, and I like that it is arranged a bit differently than the rest of the song so it makes it stand out. Olly Alexander is another singer that I don’t always like, but he sounds great here.

Irish Aris

In 13th place, submitted by

Gru

, Arctic Monkeys-Brianstorm (from the album Favourite Worst Nightmare)

We have previously established that I’m not crazy about Arctic Monkeys. I will give them though that this is a great opening track for the album. The energetic, fast pace is what I normally look in an opener. The guitar riff gets slightly repetitive, but this is only 3 minute long so I wasn’t really bored with it. Plus I’m a sucker for the kind of pause they have at 2:35. I don’t have this album, and will make sure to give it a listen.

Irish Aris

In 10th place, submitted by

phatkev

, Hot Chip-Melody of Love (from the album A Bath Full of Ecstasy)

Hot Chip was an accidental discovery when I saw them live in Longitude festival a few years ago (that day I have gone for Kraftwerk). It is surprising that I didn’t know them before that as their music is exactly what I like. This is a great dance song, trademark Hot Chip sound and you have to love Alexis Taylor’s voice. I was expecting this to be higher, but there were so many great songs so it barely made it to the top-10.

Irish Aris

In 12th place, submitted by

JP Liz V1

, Walking On Cars-Catch Me If You Can (from the album Everything this Way)

Another great song from a band that I knew as a name but not any of their music. I liked the piano intro and how the song builds up from there to gradually come to full speed. Great energy and I like Patrick Sheehy’s voice. At first listen I didn’t find it interesting enough and thought that I wouldn’t want to listen to the rest of the album, but it grew on me and changed my mind, so this goes in the (long) list of albums to discover.

Irish Aris

In 11th place, submitted by

Electric Nitwit

, Broken Records-Nearly Home (from the album Until the End Begins to Part)

This song was like the yoyo of the category and one of the main reasons that this list took so long to finalise. There are 2 distinct parts to the song. In the first half things are a bit more acoustic. I liked the first minute, which is pretty much an atmospheric intro that sounds lovely, and the song builds from that and the use of strings gives it a very nice flavour. Alas, for the second part (around the 3-minute mark) the song gets a bit “busy”: it sounds as all the mics for all the instruments are turned up to the max and fight each other for listening space. I also wasn’t very fond of the high notes of lead singer Jamie Sutherland (although elsewhere in the song I do like his voice). So when I was stuck for rankings, this took a toll: not necessarily what I would call a great opener, but a good song and good introduction to a band that I have never heard of.

Irish Aris

OK, just finished with work for the day, so we will start the evening's entertainment now!!

Irish Aris

I forgot to mention that in this category we have a song that was submitted by 2 participants. So we have 20 songs instead of 21 and I will skip a place in the rankings and give the song a joined position, i.e. if the song placed 11th, we won't have a song in the 12th place and both players will get the same amount of points for teh 11th place

Necro

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

Yeah, a great first song and a great album intro can be two very different things. I love short spoken intros where track two is the first real song, but they usually don't stand up by themselves

I personally think mine is both... Though I don't expect to do too well here because of the artist I picked

Irish Aris

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Uh oh... that sounds like it could be mine...

I honestly don't know - I'm keeping the suspense at the maximum

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Irish Aris wrote: »

In the actual list one of the participants (don't know who yet, I haven't checked names yet) submitted a very unique selection of a song. Though it didn't do very well, it was a primary example of an album that I definitely want to listen in its entirety.

Uh oh... that sounds like it could be mine...

Electric Nitwit

Yeah, a great first song and a great album intro can be two very different things. I love short spoken intros where track two is the first real song, but they usually don't stand up by themselves

Irish Aris

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

I was very tempted to go for this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihJtmeSPFo0

As a standalone "song" it doesn't really stand up but as an album opener I think it's brilliant. Cracks me up every time too, even though I think they meant it earnestly

It helps that it leads straight into "Slam" which is a belting tune

For this category, I have added a second test to help me with the rankings (the first one obviously being: do I like the song): Does this opening track make me want to listen to the whole album?
As it turned out this didn't help very much, almost all songs in the list passed this test.
To your point, this song probably wouldn't place very high, but would definitely pass the test and I would listen to the rest of the album, I feel a story is coming. In the actual list one of the participants (don't know who yet, I haven't checked names yet) submitted a very unique selection of a song. Though it didn't do very well, it was a primary example of an album that I definitely want to listen in its entirety.

Electric Nitwit

beakerjoe wrote: »

Ah pendulum, a band I kinda like

For me they're like a Jason Statham film - you know they're not actually good, but at the right time you can leave your brain out of it and just enjoy the madness. They're one of the best gigs I've ever been to, but I was hammered and the crowd was right on it!

beakerjoe

Ah pendulum, a band I kinda like. Some of their stuff is top drum n bassy for me, but love Propane NightMares and their track with In Flames, Self vs Self.

The latter would make great fight entrance music.... Hi ShaneU.

Electric Nitwit

I was very tempted to go for this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihJtmeSPFo0

As a standalone "song" it doesn't really stand up but as an album opener I think it's brilliant. Cracks me up every time too, even though I think they meant it earnestly

Somewhere out there in the vast nothingness of space,
Somewhere far away in space and time,
Staring upward at the gleaming stars in the obsidian sky,
We're marooned on a small island, in an endless sea
Confined to a tiny spit of sand, unable to escape,
But tonight, on this small planet, on earth
We're going to rock civilization...

It helps that it leads straight into "Slam" which is a belting tune