A Colo(u)rful Walr(o)us

[vonFiedler]

15. Aladyyn
Devin Townsend - Seventh Wave
Color 3.4 / Song 2.3

Player's Argument:
Blue is a strange color because of its range. Light blue evokes very different feelings compared to dark blue. The one place where all the variants of blue can be found is the ocean. Calm and menacing at the same time.

My Thoughts:
Not sure how calm this song is. And while I took it at its word at first, it just doesn't feel as Ocean as many other subs (this being the Ocean category).

 

[vonFiedler]

14. shubaka17
Deedee Magno Hall - It's Over Isn't It?
Color 3.6 / Song 2.7

Player's Argument:
blue is sad, song is sad

My Thoughts:
I really overrated this at first because it's Steven Universe and features the objective best gem. But even with that it's not a song I even remembered from the series. Sad song is Blue as well, but there are sadder.

 

[vonFiedler]

13. Martin
Masayasu Tsuboguchi - At Your Pace
Color 3.5 / Song 3.1

Player's Argument:
Blue is a really chilled out colour. I was considering submitting something that evoked a feeling of rain, but as I thought about it more realised that rainy music doesn't come across as particularly blue—it's much more of a green kinda sound, as there is a certain life or bounciness to it, or in the cases where people go for something more rhythmic and heavy it's very black. So I've tried to chose something that I feel I can chill to—something that feels like I'm strolling down the street on a lovely spring day, happy that I can do whatever it is I'm doing at the pace I choose.

My Thoughts:
I like this one. It feels like a Light Blue to me. Not very hard hitting at all but pleasant.

 

[vonFiedler]

12. BLOODYRAIN
Kenshi Yonezu - Horse and Deer
Color 3.9 / Song 2.8

Player's Argument:
The first thing that comes to mind with blue is sadness and outbursts of emotion in general. This song seems to have both of them, as well as the 'epic' vibe that I think fits the color. [Oceans are big and endless, skies are big and endless, and a blue song should probably feel huge in scale too]

My Thoughts:
Took me a long time to come around to this and feel the epicness of the ocean you are talking about. This benefited a lot from having three weeks to score it.

 

[vonFiedler]

11. MyNameIsNothing
Julia Holter - Sea Calls Me Home
Color 4.2 / Song 2.5

Player's Argument:
i cant think of blue without thinking of the ocean tbh. more simple reasoning beside, while blue is often associated with sadness, it's also a color I feel is full of hope, similar to the tone of the song.

My Thoughts:
Nothing subtle about this sub. It's about Ocean and it wants you to know it. An okay quirky song too.

 

[vonFiedler]

10. Celever
Kelly Rowland - Stole
Color 3.7 / Song 3.3

Player's Argument:
To me, blue is always gonna be R&B, and it has the obvious connotation of sadness/sorrow. So one of the most iconic modern R&B singers on a track that does nothing but despair on how society robs people of the lives they deserve? That's blue to a fault.

My Thoughts:
A song that immediately feels topical, which really drives the sadness angle.

 

[vonFiedler]

9. Andy Snype
Washed Out - Feel It All Around
Color 3.2 / Song 3.9

Player's Argument:
washed out. water is blue. mellow song. let's all chillax 8)

My Thoughts:
I think this song is great. I do love some lo-fi but it's hard to think about it in the context of singular songs and not streams of samey sounding music. This is one of the best songs subbed though and it really captures that Blue introspection as well.

 

[vonFiedler]

8. Oddish
Janelle Monae - Sally Ride
Color 3.8 / Song 3.6

Player's Argument:
One of my first thoughts for blue related to the sky, which I associate with things like freedom, longing, letting go, etc. It sparks imagination. In turn, I associate blue with those things too. Though with this song I was picturing a darker blue, kinda like the night sky, rather than the sky during the day. Blue also feels rather calm, which I consider this song to be. It picks up here and there but overall, the instrumentation and vocals make it a peaceful listen. I find it easy to drift to.

My Thoughts:
This is another Light Blue and a very strong Light Blue. On relisten, I suspect the biggest reason this ranks so high is because "Light Blue" and "Sky" were so rarely invoked, so it stands out more. Thankfully, it's also a pretty great sounding song.

 

[vonFiedler]

7. Termi
Boards of Canada - Chromakey Dreamcoat
Color 4 / Song 3.5

Player's Argument:
chill color chill music. sounds like staring at the blue sky

My Thoughts:
Chromakey, aka Green, maybe Isa should have subbed this. While Termi invokes the sky, I think this falls into the introspective category and does a banger job of it.

 

[vonFiedler]

6. Ghostwheel
Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker - Festive Minor
Color 4.6 / Song 3.2

Player's Argument:
Blue is a color for me which is overwhelmingly more calm than sad. I wanted something which seemed muted and relaxing without going into the lethargic gray, brown, or black. Really couldn't find metal or prog that seemed right, so I'm going with an old favorite from one of my favorite albums of all time, always chills me out.

My Thoughts:
Can't lie, I'm disappointed that Ghosthweel didn't submit only metal until the end. The sub is spot on though. Blue could be a lot of things, but it's a little surprising that more people didn't submit the Blues.

 

[vonFiedler]

5. nutella
The Family Crest - Make Me a Boat
Color 4.9 / Song 2.9

Player's Argument:
Evokes the overwhelming yet comforting vastness of the sea

My Thoughts:
I don't know if this was the most Ocean sub we got but it evokes strong feelings of wholesomeness that feel like some shade of blue to me, but yes it's also quite Ocean.

 

[vonFiedler]

4. Da Letter El
Nina Simone - My Man's Gone Now
Color 4.7 / Song 3.4

Player's Argument:
off the album nina simone sings the blues, this song is raw, evocative, and, well, blue.
few can create emotion in their voice like nina simone can

My Thoughts:
Much like Ghostwheel's sub, but the lyrics and vocals really just kick it up a notch for me.

 

[vonFiedler]

3. Sultan of Skook
Phantogram - You Are the Ocean
Color 4.5 / Song 3.7

Player's Argument:
Blue is associated with vastness, which is a feeling this song gives.

My Thoughts:
A jam that catches the introspective vibe and the Ocean vibe.

 

[vonFiedler]

2. Schiavetto
Portishead - Glory Box
Color 4.8 / Song 3.8

Player's Argument:
Between Beth's voice and the Isaac Hayes sample, I think the track's pretty bluesy on its own. It also just always reminds me of the "something old, something new" rhyme, the kind of stuff you'd leave stashed away in a hope chest.

My Thoughts:
Gotta be real, I gave this a high score long before I got your write-up and I don't know what you're on about. Fantastic song with a great Blue mood though.

 

[vonFiedler]

1. Lord Quas
Dan Levy - J'ai Perdu Mon Corps
Color 5 / Song 4

Player's Argument:
This track has this spacey night sky vibe to it, as well as a bit of depressing moodyness, both things that feel blue to me.

My Thoughts:
Saw this movie. Fairly neat. The soundtrack was very good but I don't know that I'd say it's top tier. This really strongly evokes what I want to hear in Blue, which is sort of being lost in your own head.

 

[vonFiedler]

Scores

 

[vonFiedler]

Rainbow Song from Sultan of Skook
David Wise - Funky Waters

Black Header
Depeche Mode - Suffer Well

 

[vonFiedler]

20. Lebossle
Apashe and Black Tiger Sex Machine - The Grave
Color 2.8 / Song 1.7

Player's Argument:
it's about death, and one of the artists has Black in the name

My Thoughts:
In spite of the title and titular sample, this just sounds like a typical callout song to me (but I couldn't find lyrics for it). A lot of songs in this category get by on a pretty distinct dark sound, which this has, but not much else. Wubby wubby callout song is a bit annoying.

 

[vonFiedler]

19. Sultan of Skook
Linkin Park x Steve Aoki - A Light That Never Comes
Color 2.9 / Song 1.6

Player's Argument:
A song which captures the darkness of depression and even makes reference to there never being any light.

My Thoughts:
Subbing Linkin Park to me, that's a big oops. This song certainly is about a lack of light and that's Black, but I don't think this pop crap does much with that.

 

[vonFiedler]

18. nutella
Silversun Pickups - Sort Of
Color 2.6 / Song 2

Player's Argument:
Lyrics evoke a kind of monstrous apathy; shoegazey atmosphere of bass and drums contribute to the dark vibe

My Thoughts:
Is this shoegazey? It doesn't sound anything like the last shoegaze song subbed to me. I don't think it's general sound does it a lot of favors compared to other songs, so it gets by only on its lyrical content.

 

[vonFiedler]

17. Andy Snype
Marilyn Manson - This Is the New Shit
Color 3.6 / Song 1

Player's Argument:
manson is just black with this rebellious theme but he's doing it in a goth way

My Thought:
This is the some shit. Not gonna color rob Manson much, but this just feels like empty bravado.

 

[vonFiedler]

16. Isa
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Color 2 / Song 2.8

Player's Argument:
Black is the color of death, doom and gloom. This song is foreboding something terrible, as none of you stand so tall.

My Thoughts:
This only squeaks by on the virtue of interpreting it through the artist's sad life. Really doesn't compete with other songs though.

 

[vonFiedler]

15. shubaka17
Cepheid - Gaia
Color 2.4 / Song 2.6

Player's Argument:
emo cat is still emo, but now instead of a whole group of people and some explicitly Christian religious overtones, it's three people droppin a collab in front of planetary bowsette about their nu-goddess and celestial bodies. the choral vocals against the vocaloid vocals is a fun experiment that makes me want to get into vocaloid legitimately. c2i is my favorite prog rocker of all time, and cepheid is one of the better song writers out there. the blackness is emo, but it's also the distinctly ethereal sensation of fading in and out of power. i picture cathedrals, funerals, my chemical romance's "welcome to the black parade"

My Thoughts:
Anime meme "is this emo?". Kind of a dark sound and I kind of like it.

 

[vonFiedler]

14. Panic Station
Infected Mushroom - Smashing the Opponent
Color 2.5 / Song 2.7

Player's Argument:
strong, aloof, power & control, sadness
A song about going too far in a fight, regretting that it happened, and then casually warning someone not to test him again or they'll get more of the same.

My Thoughts:
Sounds like a lesser Depeche Mode and I put emphasis on lesser, as the song does drag a lot.

 

[vonFiedler]

13. MyNameIsNothing
Against All Logic - If You Can't Do It Good, Do It Hard
Color 3.4 / Song 2.3

Player's Argument:
black is a POWERFUL color and thus a POWERFUL song was necessary. black is interesting in that i feel it represents both order and revolution. the music here is very militaristic and structured, but the lyrics are a clear call to action

My Thoughts:
I love this in theory. The sample section is so strong. But on relisten, you realize it wastes a ton of time when not using the titular sample.