Alestorm - f***ed With An Anchor

 

 

A pirate metal singing anthem, obviously very rude in a great Scottish way, can be aimed at anyone you don't like (Scottish to the Tories, America to Trump, Michael to Little Mix), I've been wanting to enter Alestorm for a while and this is probably their most accessible song, and one of their greatest - the lyrics are fantastic in the verses, as always, making it into more of an adventure than simply a song. They have plenty of other great songs, all about various piratical things, but they're also often a lot harder, though not as anthemic.

 

dnq me, I don't care (though a magic qualification would be lovely), because this is brilliant and I'm so glad I don't have to wonder about when is the right time to send this anymore.

 

Calliope Mori - Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?

 

 

never finished with asking people on Buzzjack to die, my Halloween entry is from Calliope Mori, a representative of my 2020 obsession with Vtubers (for the uninitiated, internet streamers who hide behind an anime girl (or sometimes boy) avatar and for all intents and purposes ARE that anime girl). Mostly they play video games but they also do other artistic projects at times, depending on their talents. While it's become a method for smaller indie streamers to not show their face, some of them get organised under big corporate promotion companies, the most notable is Hololive, who up until a few months ago just had a Japanese branch (with such great Vtubers as Inugame Korone and Usada Pekora*) and a few other branches like Chinese and Indonesian. They've just opened up an English branch, and it is surprisingly very good.

 

There are five Hololive English Vtubers, each with a fantastical backstory and a special talent. Calliope is one of the five, she is a Grim Reaper's apprentice (Halloween relevant! also called a shinigami, despite speaking in English they do still use a fair amount of Japanese terminology, though the people behind them afaik are not Japanese), others are a phoenix (who makes a brief cameo in 'Excuse', referenced as 'kusatori', the Japanese word for 'shitbird'), a shark, a detective and... an octopus. Anyway, Calli's talent is rapping (and also being very relatable, her streams are great for that). Her 'Dead Beats' EP briefly got #1 on iTunes WW, so far too cheap to send to the main contest, but also: Vtubers aren't niche, y'all! It's a great EP, 'Dead Beats' (the song) and 'Live Again' are really good also.

 

Final thought: 'Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?' is straight fire, melds English and Japanese lyrics together in a way I've rarely seen done before and I hope you all enjoy its pop leanings.

 

*Pekora singing my AQ entry from 105 'Naraku No Hana' *.*

 

 

holy shit this is the only time I'm revealing my vtuber power level

Sewerslvt - Pretty Cvnt

 

 

Sewerslvt makes good music, have been tempted by 'Mr Kill Myself' and 'Kawaii Razor Blades' also in recent months but Pretty Cvnt just really GOES for the dark grindy vibe that is... lovely and soothing to listen to. We will go with that. +incredible edgy vibes for the second month in a row PHIL YOU MADE A GOOD CHOICE FOR A WHOLESOME ADMIN

 

According to Bré's wonderful research (and confirmed on whosampled) this actually samples a song by Death Grips, a song by Gorillaz and definitely uses a major sample from

. I... did not know any of this until last night (because I didn't know any of the original songs and have not seen that show, it's somewhere deep on my watch list), but it's some good sampling.

 

even a weeb when he's not trying to be a weeb fml lmao

 

holy shit this is the only time I'm revealing my vtuber power level

 

also this was a f**king lie

DEMONDICE - Alkatraz

 

 

 

Hi, I kind of like this song. :blush: I hope you also like this song.

 

or not, whatever, that's fine too. But in my opinion It Is Good.

Holo Bass - Pop On Rocks

 

 

I didn't expect to have listened to a Vtuber narrate parts of Dr Seuss' "Fox In Socks" so many times but the beat that Holo Bass provided is... something else, and coming together with the narration done by Amelia Watson, this is very addictive. Because of its unusual origins, this is one of those BJSC entries I never expected to actually enter to BJSC for a month or so after I heard it.

 

Holo Bass is some previously undiscovered talent (or alias) who's managed to make a name for himself in the Vtuber community by remixing various sounds the Vtubers make into dance music. "Pop On Rocks" was his big breakout one, and now I'm watching his career with interest.

 

anyway, this came out of nowhere for me, if it reminds me of ANY of my previous entries, it'd be Flutterwonder because of how formative it's probably going to end up being to the music-related arm of its specific subculture (but yes I do accept that it's mostly Iz being Iz), enjoy

Mori Calliope - Off With Their Heads

 

 

The return, I hope it was expected!

 

This is my motivation anthem.

 

Otherwise, it’s a very lyrically memorable and quotable rap song (from my obsession Mori Calliope, I’d also like to point you to her thread that I made and will continue to stan in there) with a great Japanese trap beat that I absolutely had to share and hopefully find a few fans amidst a rather large BJSC.

 

Because the lyrics deserve some attention (and discussion?), I’m doing a lyrical breakdown of selected lines which have possible relevance to the BJSC:

 

‘welcome to the mountaintop, waiting to the fight calls, I hope you’re ready to be swingin’ til the night falls’ – never give up on entering and try your best to give people good discoveries

 

‘the kind of pain that you complain about then learn to savor’ – the satisfaction of seeing fans of one’s entry even amidst streaks of unpopularity

 

’past-tense on reservations now I stand in defense, of this relentlessly intense advice not lacking suspense’ – I just love the complexity of this lyric and it’s very easy to overlook otherwise

 

’I’ll gladly live inside your head, but who in the f*** pays my rent’ – the idea of losing one’s qualification streaks for successful countries

 

’cause truthfully y’all lose the heat when seeing no traction’ – me when this DNQs

 

’trust me, start relaxin’ – I’ll try to remember this!

 

’your stance is? Well it’s average, I’m savage cause I care’ – me to entries that are probably undeserving of being called such + I do really care about finding good songs here, I try to like as much as I can

 

’An ocean full of competition, get your actions to speak’ – we love songs that stand out from the crowd and the entrants who act like winners no matter their result

 

’You can't be strong if you give up from just a miss in your streak’ – qualification streaks don’t matter!!!!!!1!!!!! all that matters is you keeping providing us with the tunes

 

’You gonna throw in the towel and quit soon as your body starts bleeding?

You'll say goodbye to glory, next, "hello" to never succeeding’ – I will never quit, because if I quit, I will never reach the top, and never get that prized win I’ve been after for so long. Same for all of you.

 

’ Sign up, then you whine about it, get in line the stage is crowded’ – no one really whines in the BJSC anymore but there’s a whole line of people who want to win so no one should expect it

 

’I can now supply you with this Tough Love, good luck without it’ – capitalisation of Tough Love a must, no matter what I say, I adore this contest and the people who give me tracks, whether I like them or don’t like them

 

’Copped a decent crop of follows, all those asking me "how?"’ – Mr Séyetana sir, how did you get those 87 wins in a row?

 

As if these moves did not take heartache and these tracks are not fire! – my futile protestations about how good this is when it DNQs

 

NB: when this was first released, most people assumed that Calli was aiming this as a diss track at other Vtubers who want to be popular without making content, but she did clarify that while it has a few lyrics specific to content creators (like the brilliant ‘You want a balanced following then start creating stop tweeting’), it’s meant more to be a tough love motivational track aimed at encouraging everyone who listens to her to be the best they can be at what they do – which is definitely what I’ve taken away from it, it’s inspired me to keep going, keep my work ethic, even if I’m not always at my best, I will never give up. Even after this comes last in the semi

 

PART 1 OF 3 COUNTDOWN TO SÉYET100: INSÉYETANITY

 

FAKE TYPE. - FAKE LAND

 

 

what is real? what is fake?

 

FAKE TYPE is two underground Japanese musicians known as DYES IWASAKI and Tophamhat-Kyo (the latter of which produced Off With Their Heads under his other name AO-san), who make electro-swing dance rap. It's very fun stuff, I hope as many of you as possible enjoy it x

 

FAKE LAND is from their newest album, also titled FAKE LAND. Enjoy it, seek out their other stuff if you feel like it* and let's moldova eurovision this bitch to however nicely y'all feel like treating me this month x

 

*I can also recommend BEELZEBUZ and Nightmare Parade in particular

 

PART 2 OF 3 COUNTDOWN TO SÉYET100: SÉYENSITIVITY

 

Sewerslvt - Jvnko Still Loves You

 

 

 

I guess this is one of those times where I'm seeking justice. Welcome to my first 4th DNQ in a row/comeback track (delete as appropriate), featuring Sewerslvt, an artist I've entered relatively recently who got a rather raw deal, getting thrust into a very wrong semi with a great track. However, it's not as simple as that of course, when is it ever?

 

'Jvnko Still Loves You' is very different from 'Pretty Cvnt', I think, in that it's much more of a building, beautiful, somber dance track rather than just noise, with some great vocal samples and a long, wistful feeling. Actually, it reminds me far more of my favourite entry 'Requiem' than it does the previous Sewerslvt entry. My guidelines (not rules, guidelines) for recycles are that it should do something different to previous entries, and it should be better than previous entries, and I think this clears both of those very well. It's the final track off Sewerslvt's latest album 'The World Is Fvcked', and provides a hopeful listen for the future. I will welcome any and all support for this beauty x

 

The vocal samples come from an episode of Cowboy Bebop, one of those I remember kinda well, where main female lead Faye Valentine discovers a video message of encouragement from her younger self.

I can't remember how I felt about the adventure that was the first Sewerslvt song but this one is unquestionably great

I liked 'Pretty Cvnt' slightly more but this one is great too and if the toned down vocals mean it gets more appreciation then I am here for it to get some justice x

I'm a fan!

It's been ages since I've been on board with a Séyetana entry - this is the one!!!

thanks guys, I'm really glad I chose to enter this one now ^_^

honestly THRILLED for you. well done!!!!

PART 3 OF 3 COUNTDOWN TO SÉYET100: RESÉYEPLENDENCE

 

BABYMETAL - Road Of Resistance (feat. Herman Li and Sam Totman of Dragonforce)

 

 

(NB: this video is not the version I've entered to the contest, that can be found in the semi threads, the official video for this song is a live video with 3 extra minutes, some of which is dead air, and slightly worse sound quality, but it's worth a watch just to see a huge crowd getting hyped up for the stadium anthem that this song is)

 

100 entries. 10 years. In any case, 'Road Of Resistance' is one of my favourite songs released in the time I've been entering BJSC, and as my first Japanese entrants with 'Megitsune', the entry if anything that would first set the tone for most of my 'experiments' in subsequent contests, returning BABYMETAL felt like a great conclusion to this part of the story. 'Road Of Resistance' is a bit of a different beast, but just as great, with the input from the Dragonforce leads, it's almost like a Dragonforce song. However, the Babymetal (then) trio give their all on the vocals for the song and it comes together in a modern epic.

 

Or we'll just go back to what I wrote when this landed in my EoY in 2015, I had a look back during the week and I still stand by most of it and it's quite appropriate for the context I'm entering in so I'll let past Iz take this away:

 

 

2. BABYMETAL - Road Of Resistance (feat. Dragonforce)

Forever! Forever! Forever! Forever! Kokon kon wow kokoro no oku ni moeru atsui hahto bokura no resistance

 

It isn't often that you find a song that is directly about the story of a band. That may be because most bands don't have a story in and of themselves but rather write their songs about the experiences of the members. But a band is the entity that is presented to the music fan, and so any song that seems to capture the mood of the whole band is going to be very powerful. It's why I love, picking three out of my iTunes, Paramore's 'Playing God', Oasis' 'I'm Outta Time', even ABBA's 'Thank You For The Music', they're songs that I associate with a major point of the band's life, the subsequent turmoil Paramore found themselves in after releasing Playing God added a lot of weight to its angry lyrics, while I'm Outta Time and Thank You For The Music are essentially goodbye tracks from bands with a long history. And Road Of Resistance is another one of those tracks. In fact, it's so much one of those tracks that it's enough to make Babymetal the artist behind my favourite rock song for two years in a row *.*

 

When BABYMETAL first arrived on the scene, or at least broke out of Japan, there was a lot of resistance met by metal fans who saw this new band as defiling their beloved genre. Never mind that it was something new and interesting, they weren't having it. So they did face a road of resistance to get where they are, and that is what this song I presume is talking about, but it seems, hate is only initial. I think there are many many more people who have fallen in love with this trio of teenage girls then than dislike them now, hearing the crowd chant on the live performances has got to be testament to that. I would find a Babymetal live concert such an experience I'm sure, especially if they continue to make music as good as this.

 

Teaming up with power metal veterans Dragonforce to provide some excellent guitar backing making this a bit more of a refined experience than the craziness of Megitsune or Gimme Chocolate, there's still a bit of wackiness interspersed throughout, but the main thing that's made Road Of Resistance for me is the plaintive singing of the girls as they drag out 'forever' and 'resistance' and the Japanese lyrics falling into 'resistance'. It's enough to make me tear up because I've gotten really invested in this band since discovering them, and this sad but triumphant overcoming song is the perfect way to make me feel for them. Megitsune and one album might have just been a fad, Road Of Resistance is enough for me to know that I'll be behind this band for however long they go.

 

I'd also add the lyrics of 'kimi ga shinjiru nara' ('If you believe') and susume michi naki michi demo ('even there's no way to advance down your road'), leading into the FOREVER give an excellent feeling.

 

Anyway, hope you all enjoy ^_^

 

(yes stop reminding me to watch the rebuild movies I'll GET TO IT, also 3.0+1.0 release hype for when I get to it in... 5 months or so)

 

Blood Command - A Villain's Monologue

 

 

'Death-pop' (but outside of making up genre names: punk rock) outfit Blood Command, who hail from Bergen, got a new lead singer recently. Nikki Brumen is ex-Pagan, (no relation to presumed other Old Gods worshipping bands Pagan Fury and FAUN to my knowledge), but another rock band from Melbourne.

 

this has been on repeat since I discovered it the other week; the following quote from an Australian blog sums up why this is good Séyetana shit, let's blend pop and metal ALL DAMN DAY:

Ex-Frontwoman Nikki Brumen has been announced as the new vocalist for Bergen-based Blood Command and this news is certainly going to send shockwaves through Australia’s heavy music scene, especially those of you who love the blend of pop/metal which has been bestowed upon us by the likes of Poppy and BABYMETAL. Their fist offering together ‘A Villain’s Monologue‘ is high impact heavy rock with Nikki’s unique vocals taking centre stage BUT her clean screams combined with the sudden change in instrumentals make it a juxtaposition of heavy meets lighthearted fun. In other words, if you like poppier/melodic songs you’ll dig it – but if you love heavy riffs and screams, you’ll love it just as much (if not more).

 

of course it may be that this is your villain song, but if that's the case, I'll play the role gladly, we accept hostility in the form of hate points ^_^

Ado - 踊

 

 

This month, Séyetana brings the Japanese... let's say, Olivia Rodrigo. In that I feel I'm going a little cheap because this is just too much talent to ignore. Ado is a young big label push, who like several artistic personalities in Japan keeps her identity private, defaulting instead to angry looking anime girls to represent her. Ado's first song was the rather culturally impactful 'Usseewa' ('Shut Up') linked below, and her big followup/current smash is 'Odo' ('Danc' - it's the kanji first half of the word for 'dance' - 'odoru' - in Japanese). It's the best one.

 

'Odo' is IMO an excellently produced J-Pop song, as is the rest of Ado's 6 or so songs out right now, I'm playing them all on repeat, I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

:heart:

 

have been planning to send a more low-key Mori for ages. One of those where she's at her best doing singing + talking rap (see also Cursed Night, Live Again) and has lyrics about the struggles of the creative process/being remembered/different life paths, that sort of thing. Only for her to release her best song in that style this last month, new producer, completely new style, I can't believe how much she has grown as an artist in the space of just over a year.

 

also these lyrics are still making me cry over 50 listens in, lyrics have always been her strength but this is her best set yet

Gawr Gura - REFLECT

 

 

Trilingual song alert. English, Japanese... and Greek.

 

Gawr Gura is currently the most popular vtuber in the world, and REFLECT is her first original song. She's part of Hololive English like her genmate Mori Calliope and while I don't stan her to the extent I do Calli, she's a great singer and entertaining Youtube streamer who I'd never be opposed to putting on. REFLECT has lots of beautiful stabbing synths and a pretty cool lyrical concept that has Gura battling for control of the mic with her... evil red alter-ego, Red Gura. Red Gura's cool though, she's sung Sabaton on stream before.

 

Anyway, it's easily my favourite non-Calli Vtuber song which is why I decided to send it to round off this year.

 

(name info: Gawr Gura, like the rest of the Hololive Vtubers, presents her name in the Japanese format with family name first and personal name second, however, unlike Calli, who uses Calli and Mori almost interchangeably and sometimes writes her name the other way around, Gura is far simpler to figure out. With two names she is ALWAYS Gawr Gura, and with one name, she is ALWAYS called Gura, never Gawr).

 

(the Greek is Ancient Greek if memory serves correctly? it's supposed to draw allusions to Atlantis as Gura is supposed to be a shark from the deep in the shallow lore that Hololive delves into)

Séyetana 2021 - REFLECT 🦈

 

shouting out some Séyetana collaborations (covers/remixes/features) that I am aware of from my artists this year (the collective term that most of these fall under is "Mori Calliope and her extended universe" of course, she has some connection to the majority of artists I entered this year):

 

 

one half of FAKE TYPE. + DEMONDICE in another electro-swing song (DEMONDICE came up by doing music videos for FAKE TYPE's stuff which makes this kinda natural)

 

 

Mori and her friend Milky Queen covering the Ado song 'Usseewa', and I hear rumours that a cover of 'Odo' is in the works too.

 

 

left side right side

 

~~

 

 

presented without context

wanted to dunk on myself for this particular bias for ages

 

~~

 

This is going to be a brief BJSC EOY thing. I'm going to reflect (yes it is criminally underrated, yes it should have stormed the contest with 400 points, and I WILL make several references to it in that context) on Séyetana's year, and then collect and talk about 50 of my favourite other entries from the contest this year.

 

bring back BJSC EOYs

Séyetana 2021 - The 10 entries (+1) Evaluation

 

Yeah, we did good this year. I say that, because despite the middling sets of results that come up when we take my participation as a whole, in truth, it's not really that much about the results over here. What's more important to me, now, is whether I made the right choice of entry. And I will stand behind all 11 of my entries this year as the correct choice that I could have made in that moment, my favourite song not already entered or ineligible that I wanted to show off to a larger group of people.

 

I also love that my entries started with 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show' (song 1 in semi 1 no less), and ended with 'Sayonara, until the end', very thematically tight.

 

'Alkatraz' is now one of my favourite songs ever, it's entered my top 10 of all-time most played anyway and is my favourite ever Séyetana entry now... unless one of the Mori Calliope entries overtakes it, I'm not sure yet. I enjoyed getting a proper electro-swing-rap song in my lineup and though it absolutely should have done better and I was blinded a bit by overhyping it... no, wait, I take that back, it should have won. f*** y'all. 38th... for a bright and peppy pop-adjacent track that's still a rather unusual sound in the contest, with cool personable asides for the singer... no, that's what needs to be doing well here.

 

'Pop On Rocks' is something I'm glad I entered when I did, as I wouldn't have had a chance to enter it later. A few months after I entered it, copyright and intellectual property caught up with Holo Bass doing unlicensed sampling on Spotify and long story short, he got a little mad and deactivated. That resulted in his works all but disappearing from the internet, it still exists on Youtube from an archiver but it's more of a pain to go and listen to now. Still very glad I got to try out something very unique and addictive despite few expectations for it.

 

'Off With Their Heads' I'll say more, much more, about in my actual EOY but I was absolutely consumed by this song when I entered it, at least it outperformed the also criminally underrated 'RIP' but that's not saying a whole lot. BJSC having an aversion to female rap is one of the weirdest things about this place, and 'Off With Their Heads' is well-produced and has excellent lyrics, still some of Calli's best, her most inspiring message out of all her songs, and certainly isn't forgettable. Maybe it just doesn't have a base, in the way that dance or pop do. But I still wanted you all to hear it, and it did set up a great moment for me later in the year.

 

'FAKE LAND' was completely a 'punish BJSC for their sins' entry, I will admit that. I got a little obsessed with it and I knew it wouldn't do well, so much like 'Let Me Hear' a few years back, I decided to take a triple DNQ as a chance to go wild with a completely ill-advised entry. Electro-swing and awesome, but still, ill-advised. The result was my favourite ever score distribution, 3 12s out of 5 total votes. I look forward to seeing how it'll do in TBO (pretty sure it's my DNQ entry for that) (not well, but at least it's more likely to have an impact than Ame Wo Matsu last year).

 

and now we get to the good bit, after BJSC savaged my favourites in the first four contests of the year, it was remarkably kind to me for most of the rest of the year.

 

'Jvnko Still Loves You' I'm so glad I made the decision to enter, because I was initially wavering on it as I'd entered sewerslvt so recently, and I wasn't sure it would do that well. I did want a lowkey building song before 'Road Of Resistance', and I thought it'd make a decent impact as something a little different from me, yet still within my wheelhouse. Somehow lots of people liked it, and I managed to sneak a bronze medal, which was absolutely nowhere near what I thought it'd do, I was envisaging a lucky to qualify and maybe low 20s. It got Sewerslvt a great result before she quit music (3), it showed off one of my favourite anime TV show samples I've ever heard, and entering it directly led to the one thing I wanted to do with BJSC that I hadn't done yet (aside from win)... which was host. So I'll always be grateful for it for that.

 

'masquerade' got a little screwed by the BJ-Fest format but it's one of my few entries that went on to gain greater real-world relevance with being a TikTok hit of some description so that's cool. And it got enough fans and bemoaners at its poor result (i.e. Bré) that I'm happy with how that went.

 

I also was half expecting 'Road Of Resistance' to be a host DNQ, I remember checking semi-final votes frantically for enough votes to get me over the line, only for me to go to sleep and wake up to a bunch of points that confirmed it was in before even needing to add anything up, which was nice. As it qualified, I am completely satisfied with my one-time use of the anniversary rule, I got back into 'Road Of Resistance' enough for it to end up #5 on my Spotify Wrapped, so that's enough to say that revisiting it was a great decision. Hosting was super fun, everything lined up absolutely perfectly in a way I doubt it ever will in the future for me to put my all into a hosting production that I'm proud of.

 

'A Villain's Monologue' filled my need for a rock entry, though it was a bit too edgy to go with what does well here, that was a successful contest for rock otherwise, and I enjoyed cheering the other rockbloc entrants on, and I still love the shouty angst of Blood Command's vocals mixed with the guitars.

 

'Odo' was a pop song challenge from Japan, one of their biggest hits of the year (after BJSC showed huge disrespect by tossing YOASOBI out, nearly entered them again at a couple of points), basically the Japanese 'good 4 u', and I thought it had a chance of doing really well, but 21st is a fair result and it got me some of those very elusive pop points, for a contest.

 

'end of a life'

 

'REFLECT', another miss on BJSC's part, because what with synths, fantastic progression and a great sense of danger/excitement, I was expecting at least to challenge to qualify, and while I like Gura I don't think I'm as easily led to be unobjective as I am sometimes with Mori, 'REFLECT' really is a brilliantly constructed song and near last is just... strange.

 

basically, half of this is BJSC is wonderful, thank you, love you for appreciating my favourites and half is 'f*** you for completely ignoring my favourites in a truly harsh 'not even giving you many fans' way'. This is why you enter your favourite songs, it keeps the emotions running high.