October Contest: Voting

[DrApostropheX]

It’s time to vote! Vote for your 10 favorite tracks from most favorite down to least favorite (of your top 10). Please be sure to include at least the username of the track’s composer. Results will be up sometime on Wednesday, November 1st (but probably not right away).

[donkey tugger]

I shall start the bidding, and also offer up some verbal diarrhoea, Very good month this, one of the best in recent times. I like space and shit. not at the same time

Ere we go then...

Skipscada - Great stuff. Takes me back to listening to John Peel in mid 80s and all the Scottish jangly bands, but with err..sinthesisers and stuff. Top use of effects and err, stuff

Folderol - Very nice. Epic and in keeping with the theme. I'm not usually a big fan of this type of sinthesiser thing (it may have been noted before..) but this has a grand sweep (sweep..not seep you stupid machine, a 'grand seep' would be an entirely different affair..) and really evokes deep space.

Beanpole - Don't know that Donovan song, so you've got away with it! This has a great 80s indie feel as well. It's an epic as well. Vocals get a bit lost at the end, but I'm assuming they got back ok... (the crew not the vocals)

Bluerobot - For me to get into this type of arpeggio thing there's got to be enough going on to keep it interesting (or some good drugs..) I think you've achived the former here - nice minimally evolving 'organic' sounds and some little incidental sounds which keeps the old grey matter interested - nice.

Clarago - Love the 60s/70s space rock feel of this and some great geetaring. Mix seems to have a lot of mid low end boom to it - probably cut a bit at 200-400hz in some instruments? Perhaps felt just a bit too long without nay new ideas - but then again I was still enjoying it, so why not?

davidstiles - As always great orchestral quality from you. Didn't really get the space theme so much though. Some parts did evoke a kind of 'Star Wars' feel, but mostly I was thinking of Westerns for some reason

Rollasoc - One of them there 'soundscapes' eh? Definitely got the 'spacey' feel - was thinking more of 'Alien' or something at the end. Was expecting a few more bleeps and things (a lot of bleeps so far this month, even I had bleeps)

Laguna Rising - Hehe, a bit of a dramatic change! I can sort of get the 'sci-fi metal' idea you were going for. The mix is a bit all over the place in terms of levels (e.g. the drums get a bit overwhelmed at times, whilst at others they're nice and loud). A tad of automation may have helped. Good ambition though.

AlienXXX - Welcome to the contest sir, stick around, and don't take too much notice of my random musings! Hehe, I like the alarms etc - I'm assuming the ship got blown up in the end. Music wise there's a few timing issues, and perhaps the compression settings are a bit wrong somewhere as at times there's audible drops in the dialogue. Ambitious stuff though. Your speaking voice reminds me of someone - I think it's a cricket commentator!

Mister Natural - Really liked the string (I intially typed 'sting', come on spellchecker wake up...) parts - some great slightly weid chords, which I'm always a sucker for. Not so much the drum section - had a bit of a 'man persevering with building shed despite minimal DIY experience' feel. Sorry!

Hellfog - I like the second part of this, and the first part - but they don't seem to fit totally. There's a big build up to something ominous but then the 'nice' bit comes in and there's a buzzy bit at the end. Seemed to be a bit disconnected to me.

[beanpole]

skipscada
davidstiles
AlienXXX
ClaRago
Laguna Rising
donkey tugger
folderol
bluerobot
Mister Natural
AlienXXXLittleAlienXXX

[rollasoc]

Here are my top ten. (folderol's entry would neither stream nor download for me, so I couldn't listen to it. Sorry!)

DavidStiles
Bluerobot
Hellfog
LittleAlienXXX
DonkeyTugger
Skipscada
ClaRago
MrNatural
LagunaRising
AlienXXX

[skipscada]

1. beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7
2. Donkey Tugger - Leave
3. Folderol - Voyager
4. David Stiles - Deeps Space Carrier Rendezvous
5. rollasoc - Fleur De Lance
6. bluerobot - Mothership Orbit
7. Laguna Rising - Escape from the Icy Moon Dungeon
8. AlienXXX & LittleAlienXXX - Little Alien XXX Gamer's Spaceship
9. AlienXXX - Galactus
10. ClaRago - Space Rock It

[folderol]

After the usual indecisiveness, reshuffles etc. Here are my votes.

1 BlueRobot - MothershipOrbit
2 donkeyt - leave
3 ClaRago - Space Rock It
4 Skipscada - Gentrify Alpha Centauri
5 Hellfog - Space 11
6 beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7
7 Rollasoc - FleurDeLance
8 Mr Natural - Tone Poem for Apollo One-1
9 AlienXXX LittleAlienXXX - Gamer's spaceship
10 AlienXXX - Galactus

HMs.
davidstiles - DeepSpaceCarrierRendezvous
LagunaRising - EscapeFTIMD

[Laguna Rising]

01 - davidstiles - Deep Space Carrier Rendezvous
02 - beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7
03 - BlueRobot - Mothership Orbit
04 - donkey tugger - leave
05 - ClaRago - Space Rock It
06 - Skipscada - Gentrify Alpha Centauri
07 - Rollasoc - Fleur De Lance
08 - Hellfog - Space 11-001
09 - AlienXXX - Galactus
10 - folderol - Voyager

[davidstiles]

Great work all around, everyone! I enjoyed every track. Here's my ranking (and a few thoughts):

1) Folderol - Voyager - I'm probably predisposed to like this track because I love the Voyager probes. But it also strikes me as a majestic and spacious experience, which is kind of appropriate for those lonely probes out there in the vastness.

2) Mister Natural - Tone Poem for Apollo One - Neat timbres at the outset, especially the little chirping sounds. And then I admire how you shifted into a chill drum solo for a while, and then hit us with some really neat strings toward the end. Lots to like here.

3) Hellfog - Space 11-001 - Neat combination of timbres, and nice job shifting from one distinct feel to another. The opening was kind of Zimmeresque (in an Interstellar sort of way), but then you move to something that felt more like Half Life... and then somewhere else altogether. Neat journey on the whole.

4) Laguna Rising - Escape From the Icy Moon Dungeon - A fun track that would probably be right at home in a slightly trippier version of the 80s movie Heavy Metal. The vocals toward the end caught me a bit by surprise.

5) Rollasoc - Fleur De Lance - Cool synth sounds, and I definitely got the sense of a ship in space from this one.

6) Donkey Tugger - Leave - I feel as though this was the month's best mixed track. I really liked how the sounds interacted spatially. Kind of had a tinge of Firefly with those western influences.

7) Beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7 - This was a fun and kind of epic rock narrative. Great musical storytelling.

8) AlienXXX and LittleAlienXXX - Gamer's Spaceship - Fun! I'd say that LittleAlienXXX has a promising future as a musician!

9) BlueRobot - Mothership Orbit - Very evocative. It definitely gave me the picture of a giant craft drifting into orbit, although the the reverb seemed a bit too light at times.

10) Skipscada - Gentrify Alpha Centauri - This was a fun idea for a track. In some ways, I felt as though it could fit in with the aesthetic of something like The Fifth Element.

Honorable Mentions:

Clarago - Space-Rock-It - For me, this was a cool, almost lounge-like track, but it didn't connect as well to the spaceship theme as some of the others.

AlienXXX - Galactus - I enjoyed the fun trip into your sci-fi writing imagination!

[bluerobot]

Lots of good stuff this month.

Always hard to make comparisons with so many different styles. Ambient, pop/rock, orchestral, etc. Putting these in a list seems especially difficult this month, but since we have to do it, here goes...

1 // rollasoc // Fleur De Lance

2 // Folderol // Voyager

3 // Skipscada // Gentrify Alpha Centauri

4 // Hellfog // Space 11

5 // Donkey Tugger // Leave

6 // Mr Natural // Tone Poem for Apollo One-1

7 // David Stiles // Deeps Space Carrier Rendezvous

8 // beanpole // Godspeed Neptune 7

9 // AlienXXX & LittleAlienXXX // Little Alien XXX Gamer's Spaceship

10 // Laguna Rising // Escape from the Icy Moon Dungeon

HMs

ClaRago // Space Rock It

AlienXXX // Galactus

[ClaRago]

01 - bluerobot
02 - donkey tugger
03 - folderol
04 - Hellfog
05 - Mr Natural
06 - beanpole
07 - davidstiles
08 - rollasoc
09 - skipscada
10 - Laguna Rising

[Hellfog]

folderol
bluerobot
AlienXXX
Mister Natural 
AlienXXX/LittleAlienXXX
rollasoc
davidstiles
donkey tugger
ClaRago
beanpole

[AlienXXX]

So.. the dreaded voting begins...
I do this the only way that I can for a contest like this. I play each piece, close my eyes and write down the images that come to mind. The nicer the piece, and the closer the images are to the intended theme, the higher the score
I am voting on behalf of myself and my side-kick LittleAlienXXX...

For those in a hurry, here is the list:
10 - folderol - Voyager
9 - davidstiles - Deep Space Carrier Rendevouz
8 - rollasoc - fleur-de-lance
7 - Bluerobot - Mothership-orbit
6 - Donkey tugger - Leave
5 - ClaRago - Space Rock It
4 - beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7
3 - Hellfog - Space11
2 - skipscada - gentrify alpha centauri
1 - Mr Natural - Tone Poem for Apollo One

If you want to know what I imagined in relation to each piece, read below.

10 points - folderol - Voyager
This is proper space journey sound track, if I know one.
I single, lonely, miniscule robot ship travelling through the cold void of space against a background of stars and multi-coloured nebula.
You can feel the loneliness, the imense vastness of space and time, the slow ticking of the ships electronic heart beating slower and slower as it drifts further ito space, running out of the nuclear power that keeps it alive.

9 points - davidstiles - Deep Space Carrier Rendevouz
I agree David: nothing says majestic spaceships like classical orchestral pieces! - It is ironic, really, that is not top notch synths and effects, futuristic modular synths or never heard before spectral effects that makes those bigscreen ships feel alive and real... It is good old-fashioned violins and cellos!...

8 points - rollasoc - fleur-de-lance
Sci-fi horror.
The crew boards a ship on a science mission to a newly discovered planet. On board they carry a mutagene planned to be used on several plants and animals on arrival to allow them to adapt to the planet's conditions. The mutagene leaks during transit and contaminates some of the crew.
What follows is some kind of space-zombies sci-fi-horror with plenty of heart-pounding scenes.

7 points - Bluerobot - Mothership-orbit
A contemporary sci-fi track. This track would go well with slow-moving space-ship coupling or assembly scenes.

6 points - Donkey tugger - Leave
This is a very epic piece. I like the genre classification that Donkey tugger gave it: space-country-prog-shoegaze
LOL
Sounds like the kind of thing that might be the soundtrack for Brian Cox's next science/astronomy program series on the BBC.
Very nice ending.

5 points - ClaRago - Space Rock It
This is like a comedy remake of a cheesy 50s sci-fi music.
The aliens are men with their faces painted golden, the backgrounds are clearly made of cardboard and the astronauts are 2 kids with woolly sweaters and helmets made of kitchen utensils.
The whole thing is ridiculous, but is bloody funny! It is the kind of movie you would sit to see again for the sixth time with some friends and popcorn on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

4 points - beanpole - Godspeed Neptune 7

The soundtrack to a teen series about the adventures of an unrealistic young crew on the first manned space mission to Mars. Despite some obviously unrealistic aspects, the series offers a great insight into the dynamics of a small group of people locked in a small space for a very long period.
The crew develops some love-hate relationships and most of the time they wish they could kill each other, but they remarkably pull together in all tough situations, showing that like family, they pull together when it matters.
On the return to Earth the ship suffers a major malfunction and has to jettison the sample storage modules - thus losing most of the samples they collected in Mars. Several crew members die in this accident, with some sacrificing themselves so the rest of the crew can make it back home.

3 points - Hellfog - Space11
A spacey track. Not sure I like some of the sounds, for example I think the shakers are a bit overkill and the electric-bee sound at the end.
An alien communication is detected by the human base on the far-side of the Moon. After a period of initial secrecy the leading governments of the Earth decide to make the matter public and announce that a spaceship is being built to rendezvous in space with the alien ship that send the communication.
This massive alien spaceship has been travelling the galaxy for thousands of years and will pass just outside the solar system.
Although the ship has apparently responded to a transmission from Earth, it is believed that the response has been purely electronic. The crew of the alien ship is believes to be in hibernation. Or it may actually not have a crew at all.

2 points - skipscada - gentrify alpha centauri
On the space station orbiting the main planet on Alpha Centauri there are 3 main attractions: the two-headed green skin stripper dancers, the recreational drugs that have a 50/50 chance of melting your brain, and this band.
Two of these attractions are illegal, and anyone caught enjoying them faces up to 10 years in the mining colonies of the outer system. - That is why most people stay legal and just go for the drugs...

1 point - Mr Natural - Tone Poem for Apollo One
This is a difficult one... I commend the intention and the respect to the Apollo 1 crew.
I also think it is meant as a 'tone poem', not necessarily musical...
I like some parts of the track, but they don't all gel together in a musical way. I find the screeching sounds at the start a bit too much.
Didn't exactly evoke any images to me. Only realized the story of the Apollo 1 once I searched it. Although the Apollo 1 did not fly, the Apollo program certainly did.