Introduction:
Walrus is a game where you send one song per category that fits each for the categories listed below. Preferably ones that you think I’ll like, but hey, you do you; I appreciate the effort to submit regardless, the more the merrier! This time around some of my categories are based on song names, some are based off of anime I like, but regardless just read the category description and look at the example songs for each category and you should be fine.
Also, most of the following info except the categories are exactly the same as my last walrus with sections rewritten for wording. You’ll lose little by skipping it if you’ve participated in my last walrus.
Scoring:
TDLR; Scoring is kind of convoluted but it seems to have worked very well last walrus and fortunately any overcomplicated scoring is mainly my problem to deal with, not so much yours, and I made a spreadsheet to automate most of it anyways.
Banned Artists:
I’m not going to explicitly list a bunch of banned artists, but I have a few rules.
That’s it, just don’t try to break those rules and we’re good. If you break one on accident then oh well, it’s an accident, it’s fine- if it’s one of those last two rules I will ask you to change songs though.
Musical Tastes
Categories
Players
Names in bold have finished submitting.
1. Aladyyn
2. termi
3. Rainshaft
4. BrainpanSonata
5. Racebandit
6. vanity
7. hollowkatt
8. Shad
9. Eagle4
10. Lebossle
11. nutella
12. pisxel
13. Laurel
14. Schizoaffected
15. Schiavetto
16. KarmaDope
17. Bloobird
18. R-B-Y
19. LordQuas
20. Moose
21. MNIN West
22. MNIN East
23. soah
24. Martin
25.
...
The tentative deadline for submissions is March 4th. I need at least your first category submission by then if you plan on joining, although if you could get all your songs in beforehand that would be nice.
Walrus is a game where you send one song per category that fits each for the categories listed below. Preferably ones that you think I’ll like, but hey, you do you; I appreciate the effort to submit regardless, the more the merrier! This time around some of my categories are based on song names, some are based off of anime I like, but regardless just read the category description and look at the example songs for each category and you should be fine.
Also, most of the following info except the categories are exactly the same as my last walrus with sections rewritten for wording. You’ll lose little by skipping it if you’ve participated in my last walrus.
Scoring:
Songs’ scores will be put together from a few things, mainly how much I like them. A more detailed breakdown of scoring is shown below- it’s exactly the same as last time by the way, so for anyone who remembers that or doesn’t care about the details, skip this.
Songs that don’t fit their categories at all receive no points. I will warn you if you have a catfail, but it may be on somewhat short notice. Please don’t send me catfails.
Rating: Rating is a measure of how much I enjoyed the song. It ranges from 0.1 points to 10.0 points. Songs will be revealed in order of rating. Any song that scores an 8.0 or above will get a bonus of .5 points, and any song that scores 9.0 or above will receive a bonus of a full point. 8.0 and 9.0 are major watersheds on my personal rating scale so these bonuses aren’t really arbitrary- 8.0 means I’m willing to put the song on my playlist, and 9.0 means that I am guaranteed to seek the artist out for extensive further listening.
Catfit: Every song will receive a score for how well it fits the category, unless the category is a “you either fit it or you don’t” category (in which case I'll just give everyone the same score). The scale for this will be 0.1 points for extremely loose cat fits to 2.0 for extremely good cat fits.
Familiarity: You will receive points based on whether I’m familiar with the artist/song you’ve subbed. This ranges from a point for artists I’m completely unfamiliar with to .0 points for artists I’m aware of and have listened to a lot from (or for specific songs I'm familiar with). Unless I’m very familiar with the artist you sent or have actively listened to the song you sent me you should get some score here.
Example: Here’s an example of the scoring system above using Foreground Eclipse - If You Feel Like Sinking Down.
8.7 (Rating) + 1.8 (Catfit) + .0 (Artist) = 11.0 points (Total)
Each player’s lowest score will be dropped and replaced with their best score. This also means you can skip one category if you want to, although I’d prefer to listen to a full sub. Up to you though.
Songs that don’t fit their categories at all receive no points. I will warn you if you have a catfail, but it may be on somewhat short notice. Please don’t send me catfails.
Rating: Rating is a measure of how much I enjoyed the song. It ranges from 0.1 points to 10.0 points. Songs will be revealed in order of rating. Any song that scores an 8.0 or above will get a bonus of .5 points, and any song that scores 9.0 or above will receive a bonus of a full point. 8.0 and 9.0 are major watersheds on my personal rating scale so these bonuses aren’t really arbitrary- 8.0 means I’m willing to put the song on my playlist, and 9.0 means that I am guaranteed to seek the artist out for extensive further listening.
Catfit: Every song will receive a score for how well it fits the category, unless the category is a “you either fit it or you don’t” category (in which case I'll just give everyone the same score). The scale for this will be 0.1 points for extremely loose cat fits to 2.0 for extremely good cat fits.
Familiarity: You will receive points based on whether I’m familiar with the artist/song you’ve subbed. This ranges from a point for artists I’m completely unfamiliar with to .0 points for artists I’m aware of and have listened to a lot from (or for specific songs I'm familiar with). Unless I’m very familiar with the artist you sent or have actively listened to the song you sent me you should get some score here.
Example: Here’s an example of the scoring system above using Foreground Eclipse - If You Feel Like Sinking Down.
8.7 (Rating) + 1.8 (Catfit) + .0 (Artist) = 11.0 points (Total)
Each player’s lowest score will be dropped and replaced with their best score. This also means you can skip one category if you want to, although I’d prefer to listen to a full sub. Up to you though.
TDLR; Scoring is kind of convoluted but it seems to have worked very well last walrus and fortunately any overcomplicated scoring is mainly my problem to deal with, not so much yours, and I made a spreadsheet to automate most of it anyways.
Banned Artists:
I’m not going to explicitly list a bunch of banned artists, but I have a few rules.
- Don’t send stuff by artists if you know I’m really familiar with them.
- Don’t sub songs if you know they’ve been subbed to a past walrus of mine.
- Don’t sub songs if you know I’ve used them in a past walrus of mine or sent them to someone else for their walrus.
- Don't sub the songs categories are named after or any example songs.
- Don’t sub songs from the shows the anime categories are named after to their own categories- if you want to send a song from one show to an unrelated category, go ahead.
That’s it, just don’t try to break those rules and we’re good. If you break one on accident then oh well, it’s an accident, it’s fine- if it’s one of those last two rules I will ask you to change songs though.
Musical Tastes
I don’t mind most noise, screaming, robotic voices, or other extreme musical styles. I have no preferences on song language. I like to read the lyrics to songs if they’re not English but it doesn’t matter too much unless it’s a lyrically-themed category. A slight majority of the music I listen to is in Japanese and while you’re free to send me Japanese stuff the language specifically won’t help. It’s less preference, more what I’m used to and what my peers listen to.
Favorite genres: Breakcore, melodic death metal, shoegaze, J-core (the electronic genre), denpa
Genres I usually like a lot: House, psytrance, most electronic sans EDM/dubstep, most metal sans ‘classic’ stuff, “noise” music, disco, funk, J-pop
Genres I usually hate: Top 40-style pop, country (especially pop country), and some rap (it’s really hit or miss with rap, if you want to sub a lot of rap you can look at my old walruses or ask me for more detail, there is rap I like)
Things I usually like a lot that aren’t genres: Anything that makes me groove or headbang, songs with lots of synth, songs with lots of cowbell, cool sampling, songs with lots of horns, extremely cheesy music, sometimes loud chaotic things that others find unlistenable but that I find ‘cool’
Things I usually hate that aren't genres: Boring music. I can listen to a song for 10 minutes or more no problem if it's engaging me or has a cool atmosphere, and do so with a lot of metal and trance or whatever, but if the song bores me then my patience is gonna run out really quick. Really subjective, I know. This seems to pop up most often on the bad side of indie music and droning metal or generic electronic music that wants to go for that super long song length common in the genre without actually having anything to validate such a length. TLDR; boring is bad, long and boring is double bad- justify your length, do something cool with it.
Anything not listed I don’t think I have a bias for or against but feel free to ask if you want!
Genres do end up influencing scoring as ratings are based on whether I, in particular, like the song, but it’s not the end of the world if you send genres I’m not into. There’s plenty of songs in genres I like that I don’t like and plenty of songs in genres I don’t usually like that I love. You can focus on genres if you want but for the most part just minimize the amount you send me genres I usually hate and you’ll do fine.
Favorite genres: Breakcore, melodic death metal, shoegaze, J-core (the electronic genre), denpa
Genres I usually like a lot: House, psytrance, most electronic sans EDM/dubstep, most metal sans ‘classic’ stuff, “noise” music, disco, funk, J-pop
Genres I usually hate: Top 40-style pop, country (especially pop country), and some rap (it’s really hit or miss with rap, if you want to sub a lot of rap you can look at my old walruses or ask me for more detail, there is rap I like)
Things I usually like a lot that aren’t genres: Anything that makes me groove or headbang, songs with lots of synth, songs with lots of cowbell, cool sampling, songs with lots of horns, extremely cheesy music, sometimes loud chaotic things that others find unlistenable but that I find ‘cool’
Things I usually hate that aren't genres: Boring music. I can listen to a song for 10 minutes or more no problem if it's engaging me or has a cool atmosphere, and do so with a lot of metal and trance or whatever, but if the song bores me then my patience is gonna run out really quick. Really subjective, I know. This seems to pop up most often on the bad side of indie music and droning metal or generic electronic music that wants to go for that super long song length common in the genre without actually having anything to validate such a length. TLDR; boring is bad, long and boring is double bad- justify your length, do something cool with it.
Anything not listed I don’t think I have a bias for or against but feel free to ask if you want!
Genres do end up influencing scoring as ratings are based on whether I, in particular, like the song, but it’s not the end of the world if you send genres I’m not into. There’s plenty of songs in genres I like that I don’t like and plenty of songs in genres I don’t usually like that I love. You can focus on genres if you want but for the most part just minimize the amount you send me genres I usually hate and you’ll do fine.
Categories
Category 1: Look, I’m Dancing
There’s… a certain thing that’s inseparable from music. The urge to move- to groove- to get down on the floor. You know what I mean? Send me a song that’s certain to get me up and out of my chair and into motion. One where the groove is not just there, but is irresistible.
Example Songs:
Rhlgull - B.O.O.T.Y
STAYC - So Bad
Kenshi Yonezu - Loser
Category 2: Initial D (Second Stage)
“Don’t die.”
Two cars flashing through the night, competing to be fastest there is. You’re in one of them, speeding down a mountain in the middle of the night with the pedal to the metal. What kind of music is blaring on your stereo while you risk your life in a race?
Send me something you’d listen to with your heart pumping and the engine purring during a street race- catfit will be generous since hey, it’s your car, your playlist! As long as it fits your vision of what to play during a race, whether I think it would doesn’t matter as much.
Examples:
James Shimoji - Yellow Line
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Marko Polo - Speedy Speed Boy
Category 3: We Have to Leave This Town Because I Have Done Something Unforgivable
So, have you ever made a mistake? Maybe a lot of them, or maybe a big one? Me too. Anyways, I’m gonna need some songs about those- mistakes, I mean. The specifics don’t matter too much: Whether they’re looking for forgiveness or embracing their mistake, or whether the mistake is happening during the song or in the past- it’s all fine as long as a mistake has been made.
Examples:
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
Stew - Gary Come Home
Saka-ROW Kumi - NEET Generation
Category 4: Samurai Flamenco
“Your words may make sense, but my heart of justice tells me not to listen!”
Samurai Flamenco, like most of the universe, defaults to a natural state of chaos. That is all you need to know, and on the very very slim chance that anyone reading this actually wants to watch Samurai Flamenco someday, it is all you want to know.
Send me music that doesn’t quite make sense. The chaotic, the dissonant, the things that may make you go “How did this get made? Why?” but which you like nonetheless. As long as it’s chaotic and/or strange (whether in a musical sense or a ‘how does this exist’ sense) it’s up my ally for this category.
Examples:
chipmunks on 16 speed - Heaven Is A Place On Earth (“how does this exist”)
rokutoshichi - stylus has not yet jump (“what is going on”)
Necrocomiccon - Careless Whisper [Volume Warning] (a little of Column A, a little of Column B)
Category 5: I Wish
I have things I want, and I’m sure you do too. Whether that be some intangible hope or dream, or that Cool Thing™ being sold on Amazon for 12 payments of $99.99. I want songs about wanting something (or some things).
Examples:
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Someday
Weird Al Yankovic - Ebay
Category 6: Macross 7
“Listen to my song!”
You are in a giant robot, witnessing a clash between humanity and an alien race. While everyone else is fighting, you’re shooting speakers at both sides while shredding your electric guitar and forcing everyone to listen to your song. One of the pilots on the human side, in vain, is begging for you to stop singing in a warzone.
But there is no stopping your song.
Send the ridiculous, over-the-top music fitting of someone who thinks they can move literal mountains by singing to them. Songs that are so cheesy you’re amazed, or so self-indulgently fun it’s difficult not to smile. And if you can it’d be nice to hear someone shredding in there, but it’s by no means required.
This category I don’t just like fun. I BELIEVE in fun. LOUDLY.
Examples:
Fire Bomber - Planet Dance
The Weather Girls - It’s Raining Men
Akyra Eurobeat - Never Gonna Give You Up (Eurobeat Remix)
Ladybaby - Renge Chance
Category 7: Announcement: I Am Cute
Hello, yes, despite reality suggesting otherwise, for this category and this category only I am cute. Possibly the cutest. And to truly embrace that fact, I will need cute music. Give me the musical equivalent of having a diabetes-inducing sugar rush and the hyperactivity it causes. Something that sounds like a unicorn vomiting out rainbows into a field of lollipops. You get the point- happy sounds, fast sounds, some cute high-pitched vocals if you can swing it, two out of three ain’t bad regardless of which two they are.
Or, if you prefer, you can deny this category’s false reality and substitute the real one- I am not cute, nor will I ever be cute, nor do I even want to be cute. Send me the darkest, moodiest, music you have. Something that will drag this unicorn down into the cosmic sludge and fill it with ultimate despair as it melts into Cthulhu’s embrace.
…or if you somehow figure out how to send both at once you can do that. It’s a tough mix to find but hey, there’s usually around 20 of you participating, someone will probably try.
’Cute’ Examples:
Katagiri - Scattered Pancakes
Porter Robinson - Get Your Wish (Anamanaguchi Remix)
Camellia ft. Nanahira - Super Slow Internet-san
Takagaki Ayahi & Akesaka Satomi & Tomatsu Haruka & Shimono Hiro - Waga Na wa Shougakusei
’Dark’ Examples:
The Goslings - Croatan
Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still
CLOSED/UNDERGROUND - Kuusou Ruumba
Category 8: Space Brothers
"Some things can't be prevented. The last of which, is death. All we can do is live until the day we die. Control what we can... and fly free!"
Space Brothers take a pretty serious approach to space travel. It’s hard to get up there, and only a select few can get into space after a lot of training. Space is an amazing place with lots of cool things, but that’s not all. Space is also a very, very big place. You can be out there for a long time, and you can get lonely in the process. Send me a song that you feel captures being adrift in a space. There’s only a tenuous connection to Earth and, for some reason or other, no one to keep you company.
Examples:
Alex Gray - Hypersleep
Shiro Sagisu ft. Mike Wyzgowski - Nothing Can Be Explained
Key Sound Label - Town, Flow of Time, People
Category 9: Video Killed The Radio Star
Music is (somewhat obviously) still the most important thing when it comes to a song for me, but judging off of just music is forgetting about something- the video. Video Killed The Radio Star was the first music video to air on MTV, and since then we’ve had more than a few songs that have gotten famous or ‘gone viral’ mainly from their videos, or from videos others have made with the song playing.
Send me pairings of song and video (it doesn’t have to be the official music video though- go wild if you want to) which can be appreciated together.
Since the songs are really just as important as the videos here, the song and the video will be worth the same amount of points while scoring.
Examples:
Policeman - Gal Man Declaration
That1Guy - Modern Man
Toe - Goodbye
Mindless Self Indulgence/Anna Zoey - Ass Backwards/Evening Tale For Stupid Children
Category 10: Space Dandy
“Live with the flow baby.”
Sometimes things are rough, and we like to panic. But in that case, why not just go with the flow? Sit back, chill out, and see what life has in store for you. And for that, we need some chill tunes- but nothing too boring either, it still has to have a bit of a groove. Something that’s chill but makes you feel good, you get me?
Examples:
Junk Fujiyama - Stardust Pipeline
Stars - Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Get It
Supercell - Feel So Good
There’s… a certain thing that’s inseparable from music. The urge to move- to groove- to get down on the floor. You know what I mean? Send me a song that’s certain to get me up and out of my chair and into motion. One where the groove is not just there, but is irresistible.
Example Songs:
Rhlgull - B.O.O.T.Y
STAYC - So Bad
Kenshi Yonezu - Loser
Category 2: Initial D (Second Stage)
“Don’t die.”
Two cars flashing through the night, competing to be fastest there is. You’re in one of them, speeding down a mountain in the middle of the night with the pedal to the metal. What kind of music is blaring on your stereo while you risk your life in a race?
Send me something you’d listen to with your heart pumping and the engine purring during a street race- catfit will be generous since hey, it’s your car, your playlist! As long as it fits your vision of what to play during a race, whether I think it would doesn’t matter as much.
Examples:
James Shimoji - Yellow Line
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Marko Polo - Speedy Speed Boy
Category 3: We Have to Leave This Town Because I Have Done Something Unforgivable
So, have you ever made a mistake? Maybe a lot of them, or maybe a big one? Me too. Anyways, I’m gonna need some songs about those- mistakes, I mean. The specifics don’t matter too much: Whether they’re looking for forgiveness or embracing their mistake, or whether the mistake is happening during the song or in the past- it’s all fine as long as a mistake has been made.
Examples:
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
Stew - Gary Come Home
Saka-ROW Kumi - NEET Generation
Category 4: Samurai Flamenco
“Your words may make sense, but my heart of justice tells me not to listen!”
Samurai Flamenco, like most of the universe, defaults to a natural state of chaos. That is all you need to know, and on the very very slim chance that anyone reading this actually wants to watch Samurai Flamenco someday, it is all you want to know.
Send me music that doesn’t quite make sense. The chaotic, the dissonant, the things that may make you go “How did this get made? Why?” but which you like nonetheless. As long as it’s chaotic and/or strange (whether in a musical sense or a ‘how does this exist’ sense) it’s up my ally for this category.
Examples:
chipmunks on 16 speed - Heaven Is A Place On Earth (“how does this exist”)
rokutoshichi - stylus has not yet jump (“what is going on”)
Necrocomiccon - Careless Whisper [Volume Warning] (a little of Column A, a little of Column B)
Category 5: I Wish
I have things I want, and I’m sure you do too. Whether that be some intangible hope or dream, or that Cool Thing™ being sold on Amazon for 12 payments of $99.99. I want songs about wanting something (or some things).
Examples:
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Someday
Weird Al Yankovic - Ebay
Category 6: Macross 7
“Listen to my song!”
You are in a giant robot, witnessing a clash between humanity and an alien race. While everyone else is fighting, you’re shooting speakers at both sides while shredding your electric guitar and forcing everyone to listen to your song. One of the pilots on the human side, in vain, is begging for you to stop singing in a warzone.
But there is no stopping your song.
Send the ridiculous, over-the-top music fitting of someone who thinks they can move literal mountains by singing to them. Songs that are so cheesy you’re amazed, or so self-indulgently fun it’s difficult not to smile. And if you can it’d be nice to hear someone shredding in there, but it’s by no means required.
This category I don’t just like fun. I BELIEVE in fun. LOUDLY.
Examples:
Fire Bomber - Planet Dance
The Weather Girls - It’s Raining Men
Akyra Eurobeat - Never Gonna Give You Up (Eurobeat Remix)
Ladybaby - Renge Chance
Category 7: Announcement: I Am Cute
Hello, yes, despite reality suggesting otherwise, for this category and this category only I am cute. Possibly the cutest. And to truly embrace that fact, I will need cute music. Give me the musical equivalent of having a diabetes-inducing sugar rush and the hyperactivity it causes. Something that sounds like a unicorn vomiting out rainbows into a field of lollipops. You get the point- happy sounds, fast sounds, some cute high-pitched vocals if you can swing it, two out of three ain’t bad regardless of which two they are.
Or, if you prefer, you can deny this category’s false reality and substitute the real one- I am not cute, nor will I ever be cute, nor do I even want to be cute. Send me the darkest, moodiest, music you have. Something that will drag this unicorn down into the cosmic sludge and fill it with ultimate despair as it melts into Cthulhu’s embrace.
…or if you somehow figure out how to send both at once you can do that. It’s a tough mix to find but hey, there’s usually around 20 of you participating, someone will probably try.
’Cute’ Examples:
Katagiri - Scattered Pancakes
Porter Robinson - Get Your Wish (Anamanaguchi Remix)
Camellia ft. Nanahira - Super Slow Internet-san
Takagaki Ayahi & Akesaka Satomi & Tomatsu Haruka & Shimono Hiro - Waga Na wa Shougakusei
’Dark’ Examples:
The Goslings - Croatan
Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still
CLOSED/UNDERGROUND - Kuusou Ruumba
Category 8: Space Brothers
"Some things can't be prevented. The last of which, is death. All we can do is live until the day we die. Control what we can... and fly free!"
Space Brothers take a pretty serious approach to space travel. It’s hard to get up there, and only a select few can get into space after a lot of training. Space is an amazing place with lots of cool things, but that’s not all. Space is also a very, very big place. You can be out there for a long time, and you can get lonely in the process. Send me a song that you feel captures being adrift in a space. There’s only a tenuous connection to Earth and, for some reason or other, no one to keep you company.
Examples:
Alex Gray - Hypersleep
Shiro Sagisu ft. Mike Wyzgowski - Nothing Can Be Explained
Key Sound Label - Town, Flow of Time, People
Category 9: Video Killed The Radio Star
Music is (somewhat obviously) still the most important thing when it comes to a song for me, but judging off of just music is forgetting about something- the video. Video Killed The Radio Star was the first music video to air on MTV, and since then we’ve had more than a few songs that have gotten famous or ‘gone viral’ mainly from their videos, or from videos others have made with the song playing.
Send me pairings of song and video (it doesn’t have to be the official music video though- go wild if you want to) which can be appreciated together.
Since the songs are really just as important as the videos here, the song and the video will be worth the same amount of points while scoring.
Examples:
Policeman - Gal Man Declaration
That1Guy - Modern Man
Toe - Goodbye
Mindless Self Indulgence/Anna Zoey - Ass Backwards/Evening Tale For Stupid Children
Category 10: Space Dandy
“Live with the flow baby.”
Sometimes things are rough, and we like to panic. But in that case, why not just go with the flow? Sit back, chill out, and see what life has in store for you. And for that, we need some chill tunes- but nothing too boring either, it still has to have a bit of a groove. Something that’s chill but makes you feel good, you get me?
Examples:
Junk Fujiyama - Stardust Pipeline
Stars - Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Get It
Supercell - Feel So Good
Players
Names in bold have finished submitting.
1. Aladyyn
2. termi
3. Rainshaft
4. BrainpanSonata
5. Racebandit
6. vanity
7. hollowkatt
8. Shad
9. Eagle4
10. Lebossle
11. nutella
12. pisxel
13. Laurel
14. Schizoaffected
15. Schiavetto
16. KarmaDope
17. Bloobird
18. R-B-Y
19. LordQuas
20. Moose
21. MNIN West
22. MNIN East
23. soah
24. Martin
25.
...
The tentative deadline for submissions is March 4th. I need at least your first category submission by then if you plan on joining, although if you could get all your songs in beforehand that would be nice.
Last edited: