Non-metal Themed Mixtape Game

So, who else needs to rate this game? I didn't even participate in this round, so I'm all the more eager to move on to the next
 
Broadcast - According to No Plan

6/10

Split Enz - One Step Ahead

5/10

John WIlliams - Usher Waltz

6/10

Pixies - Where Is My Mind

7.5/10

David Thomas - Semaphore

8/10

Jamin Winans - Recognize

6/10

Wipers - What Is

8/10

The Who - I Can't Explain

7.5/10

Gentle Giant - I Lost My Head

8/10

Buzzcocks - I Don't Know What to Do With My Life

6/10

Tim Buckley - Hallucinations

8/10

Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man

9/10
 
Broadcast - According to No Plan - 3
what confused me is why this was made

Split Enz - One Step Ahead - 8
chilled out song i like

John WIlliams - Usher Waltz - 5
not confusing at all

Pixies - Where Is My Mind - 10
dat guitar is catchy as fuck

David Thomas - Semaphore - 3
sounds dumb

Jamin Winans - Recognize - 6
beautiful, love this, wish it'd go longer. sadly not on theme

Wipers - What Is - 7
a head bobber yea

The Who - I Can't Explain - 6
just ok

Gentle Giant - I Lost My Head - 3
they were trying to be experimental and it failed

Buzzcocks - I Don't Know What to Do With My Life - 6
fine

Tim Buckley - Hallucinations - 7.5
quite nice

Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man - 8
great
 
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Broadcast - According to No Plan
i suspect there's a little too much icy drug-addled '60s revival here for me, i can't get my head around it sober aside from finding it subtly semi-affecting and a lovely pick for the theme. 7/10

Split Enz - One Step Ahead

i didn't know of this band before hearing about them on here a few times now. this one is also very '60s melodically speaking, but better. 8/10

John WIlliams - Usher Waltz
russian classical guitar? sign me up. i suppose i'd rather just listen to old school renaissance stuff like dowland or whatever but this is cool and better suited to the theme. 7/10

Pixies - Where Is My Mind

probably my favourite of their big hits, despite how pop culture has attempted to ruin it. helps that it's one of their only songs that feels fully-formed and ready for release, rather than a fragment or practice run like usual. that looseness is part of their charm of course but it's also regularly frustrating. this reminds me i still need to listen to BOSSANOVA. 9/10

David Thomas - Semaphore

i worship early ubu. this is more like a clown doing ubu covers at a child's birthday party. that's pretty confusing, i'll give you that. i liked the slow part in the middle. 6/10

Jamin Winans - Recognize

pretty generic and not noticeably thematic. i haven't seen the movie either. 4/10

Wipers - What Is

this isn't their best song or anything but fuck i love them so much. the most emotionally charged punk band ever, with some of the most beautifully melancholic guitarwork in music history. they did existential angst better than just about anybody. 9/10

The Who - I Can't Explain

my preferred who era by far, but not one of their better songs from it. pretty much a kinks rip-off, and i didn't care for that era of the kinks all that much anyway. slightly pushing it thematically IMO, it's more about the impossibility of expressing love than any kind of overall confusion (he literally says the phrase "i know what it means"). 4/10

Gentle Giant - I Lost My Head

i assume this'll win, and not undeservedly. 8/10

Buzzcocks - I Don't Know What to Do With My Life

this sounds more dead kens than the album i've heard (the debut), did they influence each other at all or was it a case of both sharing influences? either way it's welcome. still too poppy and palatable for my tastes, but i'm surprised by how much i like this. 7/10

Tim Buckley - Hallucinations

i've heard every tim buckley album and at the time i preferred his early work (inc. this album), which is bigger and dumber and more blatantly derived from '60s psych, but also less boring than his more subtle, meditative and experimental later work. whether i'd still feel that way now idk, but this is less theatrical and more evocative than i remember this album being, and great for the theme. 8/10

Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man

unlike most here i don't like this version quite as much, or at least not for this theme. it's more fiery and impassioned and rockish with a better guitar sound but that doesn't serve the surrealism of the lyrics as well as the lumbering, farcical repetition of the studio version (which, in fairness, isn't on youtube). both are great in their own ways though - this version actually reminds me of what hendrix did to 'all along the watchtower', a cover dylan himself worshipped and probably attempted to emulate quite a bit live. incidentally, the studio version of this was my other choice for the surrealism round, and is actually rather similar to the procol harum song i ended up submitting. i've overplayed this album to high hell but i've gotta ten it really. 10/10
 
Broadcast - According to No Plan: I liked the atmosphere but it doesn't do enough with it, in my opinion. 6/10

Split Enz - One Step Ahead: I actually liked this. Never heard a single track by them before but this definitely made me want to check them out more. 7.5/10

Usher Waltz - John Williams (Nikita Koshkin): A brilliant piece and a brilliant performance. What's not to like? 10/10

Pixies - Where Is My Mind: I've always liked this track. Despite how it may sound originally, the more you listen to it, the more the melancholy it conveys becomes blatantly obvious. Very few are like it. 9/10

David Thomas - Semaphore
: This was pretty cool. 8/10

Ink: The Complete Soundtrack - Recognize: Good stuff. However, I don't know how it relates to confusion. Haven't seen the movie though, so I'll be generous. 7.5/10

Wipers - What Is: Bog-standard punk with an extremely grating chorus. 3.5/10

The Who - I Can't Explain: I much prefer their work after this but I still liked it. However, not on theme. 4.5/10

Gentle Giant - I Lost My Head: Completely topical and completely great. 10/10

Buzzcocks - I Don't Know What to Do With My Life
: I liked this as well. 8.5/10

Tim Buckley - Hallucinations: Really good. 9/10

Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man: One of my favorite songs of his with a great live performance. 10/10

 
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OK, so I'm on a friend's computer without excel or any other calc software so I started tallying this up by hand but I made a mistake somewhere in the process forcing me to start over and I'm not going to. So I'll just post who submitted what and let someone with time on their hands figure out who won. Sorry.

Broadcast - me (snuck this in while waiting for more submissions, didn't feel like taking it out when I had enough. Very positively surprised by HBB's 10.)
Split Enz - STN
Koshkin - Baroque (thought this was a fantastic pick that strongly conveyed a sense of confusion instrumentally even without context.)
Pixies - arg
David Thomas - HBB
Winans - dweller (thought this was a bad pick that did not convey a sense of confusion instrumentally without context.)
Wipers - no country
The Who - Elric
Gentle Giant - sirjack
Buzzcocks - CIG
Buckley - Funerary
Dylan - Talos
 
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...Just realized the reason I fucked up during tallying was because Talos rated one song less than everyone else for some reason. good job