Da Letter El
Officially internet famous
Hello hi hello, it’s Da Letter El coming at you with a big ol Walrus thread.
Let me quote Walrologist Walrein in his explanation on what a Walrus is.
As a quick introduction to this particular Walrus, I suppose I should give you an idea of how I consume music. I generally like to listen to music based on my mood, as I imagine a lot of people do. As such, many of my categories are going to be focused on moods, situations and ideas rather than strict source or lyrical/conceptual boundaries.
Also, I’m trying to be exposed to songs and music I haven’t already heard if at all possible, and I’m going to reward people that cater to this desire. I will be giving 0.5 bonus points to people who submit (good) songs I haven’t heard before.
Scoring will be a subjective rating of my own between 0 and 10, after which I will award .5 bonus points to a song I have not heard before which scores above a 6 prior to the bonus. That’s it.
With that, here are my categories:
1. Summer’s (not) Gone: Summer is winding down, but it’s not quite done yet. Send me a song about summer, the sun, heat, the beach, summer holidays (4th of July, etc.), or other stereotypical summer things. Alternatively, send me a bubbly and fun-sounding, or maybe a happy-chill song that would be appropriate for hearing at a beach. Specify which approach you’re taking.
Examples:
Lil Rob - Summer Nights (about summer)
Saint Pepsi - Fiona Coyne (bubbly song)
2. Running in the 90s: Only 90s kids understand this cat. Send me a song from the 1990s.
Examples:
Mariah Carey - Fantasy
Nas - Memory Lane
Blink 182 - What’s My Age Again
3. Future: Every year brings more laments on the death of music. Prove the haters wrong. Or right, I suppose. Send me a song from 2017.
BROCKHAMPTON - Gold
A-trak ft. Quavo & Lil Yachty - Believe
Illenium ft. Annika Wells - Crawl Outta Love
4. Stigma: The world is filled with judgmental assholes, but sometimes you just like what you like. Send me a song from a genre, source, or artist with a fairly negative stigma attached to them. Weeb shit, screamo, homestuck music and Insane Clown Posse are all categorically welcome here if you’re looking for some inspiration. Make it clear how you're trying to interpret this category.
Examples:
BACK-ON - Chain (weeb)
Emily Browning - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (made for a terrible movie in Sucker Punch)
Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean (artist stigma)
5. Late Night Drive: It’s been a long day, you’re a bit tired, it’s dark out, and you’re on your way home. Send me a song you want to listen to on the drive. Brooding, dark, and slow-ish generally works for this cat, but nothing is going to catfail this. I usually don’t enjoy listening to super peppy stuff when I'm tired but if that's how you roll, I won't hold it against you other than perhaps on a visceral level when I judge this at night. Note: this cat will be listened to in its entirety over various car rides at night through my car’s speakers in addition to through headphones.
Examples:
Kavinsky - Nightcall
Kanye West - Drive Slow
6. These go to 11: Some songs were just made to be listened to at full volume. Send me a song that sounds great when it’s played LOUDLY, whether the volume helps get you pumped up or has you surrounded and helps you feel like you're escaping to another plane. Note: this cat will be listened to in its entirety over various car rides at full volume through my car’s speakers in addition to through headphones. Please don’t ruin my ears too much.
Examples:
Death Grips - Get Got
Flume - Hyperreal ft. Kučka
Rage Against the Machine - Mic Check
7. This Is How We Chill from ‘93 ‘Til: I was born in 92; close enough. Send me something chill; something you could maybe close your eyes, lay back, or heck even smoke to if that’s your thing. Note: you’re free to send me a song from before 93; I just really like that song and it fit for a title.
Examples:
ODESZA - Bloom
Yung Lean - Kyoto
8. I Want To Be The Very Best: Gotta catch ‘em all. This is a Pokemon forum, so let's embrace that. Send me a song from, about, or tangentially related to Pokemon. This can be original or a remix; anime or video game. If it isn’t immediately obvious, explain the tangential relationship.
Examples:
Double Trouble (anime)
Verdanturf Town (games)
Shofu ft. Lots of People - Pokemon Cypher 2013 (related)
BotanicSage - Pokemon GSC Is What I Like (mashup/remix)
Bonus: Am I Wrong?
OPTIONAL: As a former debater and a debate coach, as well as a man that loves a good tier list argument, I’m not immune to admitting I can make mistakes. Prior to the last category’s judging, send me an argument for why a song that you submitted should receive a higher score than it did. Feel free to use references to portions of the song that stand out, make comparisons to higher or lower rated songs, etc.
9. Sing a Song Some songs just make you want to shout. Send me an infectious song that just makes you want to sing along.
Examples:
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Donny Osmond - I’ll Make A Man Out of You
-- ---End Categories-----
Who Dat Boy (About Me, If You're Trying to Win):
I’m a 25 year old white dude from LA. I mostly listen to and seek out hip hop and edm, but have listened to and enjoyed songs from just about every genre. I watch unhealthy amounts of anime and love to sing in the shower to whatever earbug pop song played on the radio earlier that day. I even like genres that people argue barely exist, like chillwave, cloud rap, etc.
Here’s a sample list of artists I like a lot and would pander cap a submission from at 8 points:
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Nas
Notorious B.I.G.
Outkast
MF DOOM
Drake
Mariah Carey
Justin Timberlake
Smash Mouth
Vertical Horizon
Rage Against the Machine
Pixies
Electric Light Orchestra
Earth Wind & Fire
Bill Withers
Zedd
Madeon
Porter Robinson
Illenium
ODESZA
Kygo
Passion Pit
Caravan Palace
Yoko Kanno/The Seatbelts
Sawano Hiroyuki
The only 0s I'd drop are catfails and using one of my example songs or previous submissions (I'll alert you quickly about the latter two, don't feel a need to search through my past submissions. The former I'll notify you once I catch it). I won’t drop a fat 0 on any artist, but I’ll let you know if an artist or song you’ve submitted would potentially be subject to pander capping due to it being obvious I like a given artist/song from a previous submission, obvious exposure to from like of a certain genre, etc.
That said, there are some songs I know that I can’t judge fairly, so I’m gonna ban them and give a 0 to anyone that submits them:
Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Pixies - Where Is My Mind
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Quad City DJs - Come On And Slam, including any and all mashups and remixes
I Don’t Like:
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
I don’t like really heavy metal. I do like some more melodic metal, though. I like a good bit of Metallica and Nightwish, for example, but I have almost no exposure to this genre to tell you much more about it. Hair metal is also largely a no.
I usually don’t like screamo/really harsh vocals, but I generally love when Grimes screams and like to various degrees some anime songs by Fear, And Loathing in Las Vegas and SiM. Just don’t send me Death Note’s 2nd OP or Du Hast or some shit.
Angry-emo and emo-emo stuff is in a similar boat to this.
tricot is so disappointing. Walrein and LG don’t do this to yourselves.
Broadway musical music. This almost never does anything for me. I like Seasons of Love, though. Anything from Avenue Q will crash and burn.
Most country music. It usually just bores me. This is also a genre I have very little exposure to, and most country music I listen to isn't dumpster fire bad, but it usually makes me wish I were listening to something else. If you've got more up-tempo and catchy country like Wagon Wheel though I might like it to some degree.
Most dad rock does little for me. Once again, generally don’t hate it but you’ll be hard pressed to find stuff I like.
Glhf
Feel free to send songs along at your own pace but...
Deadline for first song, as well as first reveal, is planned for Sunday, August 27th at 5 PM PST.
Sign Ups:
BOLD means have received full submission, underline means partial
RODAN
KnightsofCydonia
Blazade
Steven Snype
SketchUp
Asek
Yeti
LG
myzozoa
Granny Pie
Haruno
Walrein
VonFiedler
HealNDeal
bluedoom
UncleSam
sam-testings
Cancerous
Adam (Mafia Universe)
LightWolf
shubaka17
Martin
Let me quote Walrologist Walrein in his explanation on what a Walrus is.
So if you don’t know, now you know. Send me a PM with a link to songs that fit the categories and you're good to go.But what is Walrus? Walrus is essentially a completely biased song competition, judged by yours truly. There are [9] categories; entrants will select songs that fit these categories and submit them to me for judging. I'll score each song (alongside a brief writeup of my thoughts), award points based on the score, and then whoever has the most points at the end wins.
As a quick introduction to this particular Walrus, I suppose I should give you an idea of how I consume music. I generally like to listen to music based on my mood, as I imagine a lot of people do. As such, many of my categories are going to be focused on moods, situations and ideas rather than strict source or lyrical/conceptual boundaries.
Also, I’m trying to be exposed to songs and music I haven’t already heard if at all possible, and I’m going to reward people that cater to this desire. I will be giving 0.5 bonus points to people who submit (good) songs I haven’t heard before.
Scoring will be a subjective rating of my own between 0 and 10, after which I will award .5 bonus points to a song I have not heard before which scores above a 6 prior to the bonus. That’s it.
With that, here are my categories:
1. Summer’s (not) Gone: Summer is winding down, but it’s not quite done yet. Send me a song about summer, the sun, heat, the beach, summer holidays (4th of July, etc.), or other stereotypical summer things. Alternatively, send me a bubbly and fun-sounding, or maybe a happy-chill song that would be appropriate for hearing at a beach. Specify which approach you’re taking.
Examples:
Lil Rob - Summer Nights (about summer)
Saint Pepsi - Fiona Coyne (bubbly song)
2. Running in the 90s: Only 90s kids understand this cat. Send me a song from the 1990s.
Examples:
Mariah Carey - Fantasy
Nas - Memory Lane
Blink 182 - What’s My Age Again
3. Future: Every year brings more laments on the death of music. Prove the haters wrong. Or right, I suppose. Send me a song from 2017.
BROCKHAMPTON - Gold
A-trak ft. Quavo & Lil Yachty - Believe
Illenium ft. Annika Wells - Crawl Outta Love
4. Stigma: The world is filled with judgmental assholes, but sometimes you just like what you like. Send me a song from a genre, source, or artist with a fairly negative stigma attached to them. Weeb shit, screamo, homestuck music and Insane Clown Posse are all categorically welcome here if you’re looking for some inspiration. Make it clear how you're trying to interpret this category.
Examples:
BACK-ON - Chain (weeb)
Emily Browning - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (made for a terrible movie in Sucker Punch)
Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean (artist stigma)
5. Late Night Drive: It’s been a long day, you’re a bit tired, it’s dark out, and you’re on your way home. Send me a song you want to listen to on the drive. Brooding, dark, and slow-ish generally works for this cat, but nothing is going to catfail this. I usually don’t enjoy listening to super peppy stuff when I'm tired but if that's how you roll, I won't hold it against you other than perhaps on a visceral level when I judge this at night. Note: this cat will be listened to in its entirety over various car rides at night through my car’s speakers in addition to through headphones.
Examples:
Kavinsky - Nightcall
Kanye West - Drive Slow
6. These go to 11: Some songs were just made to be listened to at full volume. Send me a song that sounds great when it’s played LOUDLY, whether the volume helps get you pumped up or has you surrounded and helps you feel like you're escaping to another plane. Note: this cat will be listened to in its entirety over various car rides at full volume through my car’s speakers in addition to through headphones. Please don’t ruin my ears too much.
Examples:
Death Grips - Get Got
Flume - Hyperreal ft. Kučka
Rage Against the Machine - Mic Check
7. This Is How We Chill from ‘93 ‘Til: I was born in 92; close enough. Send me something chill; something you could maybe close your eyes, lay back, or heck even smoke to if that’s your thing. Note: you’re free to send me a song from before 93; I just really like that song and it fit for a title.
Examples:
ODESZA - Bloom
Yung Lean - Kyoto
8. I Want To Be The Very Best: Gotta catch ‘em all. This is a Pokemon forum, so let's embrace that. Send me a song from, about, or tangentially related to Pokemon. This can be original or a remix; anime or video game. If it isn’t immediately obvious, explain the tangential relationship.
Examples:
Double Trouble (anime)
Verdanturf Town (games)
Shofu ft. Lots of People - Pokemon Cypher 2013 (related)
BotanicSage - Pokemon GSC Is What I Like (mashup/remix)
Bonus: Am I Wrong?
OPTIONAL: As a former debater and a debate coach, as well as a man that loves a good tier list argument, I’m not immune to admitting I can make mistakes. Prior to the last category’s judging, send me an argument for why a song that you submitted should receive a higher score than it did. Feel free to use references to portions of the song that stand out, make comparisons to higher or lower rated songs, etc.
9. Sing a Song Some songs just make you want to shout. Send me an infectious song that just makes you want to sing along.
Examples:
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Donny Osmond - I’ll Make A Man Out of You
-- ---End Categories-----
Who Dat Boy (About Me, If You're Trying to Win):
I’m a 25 year old white dude from LA. I mostly listen to and seek out hip hop and edm, but have listened to and enjoyed songs from just about every genre. I watch unhealthy amounts of anime and love to sing in the shower to whatever earbug pop song played on the radio earlier that day. I even like genres that people argue barely exist, like chillwave, cloud rap, etc.
Here’s a sample list of artists I like a lot and would pander cap a submission from at 8 points:
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Nas
Notorious B.I.G.
Outkast
MF DOOM
Drake
Mariah Carey
Justin Timberlake
Smash Mouth
Vertical Horizon
Rage Against the Machine
Pixies
Electric Light Orchestra
Earth Wind & Fire
Bill Withers
Zedd
Madeon
Porter Robinson
Illenium
ODESZA
Kygo
Passion Pit
Caravan Palace
Yoko Kanno/The Seatbelts
Sawano Hiroyuki
The only 0s I'd drop are catfails and using one of my example songs or previous submissions (I'll alert you quickly about the latter two, don't feel a need to search through my past submissions. The former I'll notify you once I catch it). I won’t drop a fat 0 on any artist, but I’ll let you know if an artist or song you’ve submitted would potentially be subject to pander capping due to it being obvious I like a given artist/song from a previous submission, obvious exposure to from like of a certain genre, etc.
That said, there are some songs I know that I can’t judge fairly, so I’m gonna ban them and give a 0 to anyone that submits them:
Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Pixies - Where Is My Mind
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Quad City DJs - Come On And Slam, including any and all mashups and remixes
I Don’t Like:
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
I don’t like really heavy metal. I do like some more melodic metal, though. I like a good bit of Metallica and Nightwish, for example, but I have almost no exposure to this genre to tell you much more about it. Hair metal is also largely a no.
I usually don’t like screamo/really harsh vocals, but I generally love when Grimes screams and like to various degrees some anime songs by Fear, And Loathing in Las Vegas and SiM. Just don’t send me Death Note’s 2nd OP or Du Hast or some shit.
Angry-emo and emo-emo stuff is in a similar boat to this.
tricot is so disappointing. Walrein and LG don’t do this to yourselves.
Broadway musical music. This almost never does anything for me. I like Seasons of Love, though. Anything from Avenue Q will crash and burn.
Most country music. It usually just bores me. This is also a genre I have very little exposure to, and most country music I listen to isn't dumpster fire bad, but it usually makes me wish I were listening to something else. If you've got more up-tempo and catchy country like Wagon Wheel though I might like it to some degree.
Most dad rock does little for me. Once again, generally don’t hate it but you’ll be hard pressed to find stuff I like.
Glhf
Feel free to send songs along at your own pace but...
Deadline for first song, as well as first reveal, is planned for Sunday, August 27th at 5 PM PST.
Sign Ups:
BOLD means have received full submission, underline means partial
RODAN
KnightsofCydonia
Blazade
Steven Snype
SketchUp
Asek
Yeti
LG
myzozoa
Granny Pie
Haruno
Walrein
VonFiedler
HealNDeal
bluedoom
UncleSam
sam-testings
Cancerous
Adam (Mafia Universe)
LightWolf
shubaka17
Martin
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