Dobbo

Dobago Entries of 2020 Ranking 1 Pendulum - The Tempest 2 Noisestorm - Crab Rave 3 MASTER BOOT RECORD - BAYAREA.BMP 4 Utah Jazz - Take No More 5 Wow & Flutter - Hot (Club Mix) 6 Felix Snow - Born To Love Buffalo 7 Unknown Brain (feat. Marvin Divine) - MATAFAKA 8 Farhad Mahdavi & Tricia McTeague - You Can Run 9 Latto - No Panties 10 Money Aujla (feat. Nesdi Jones & Yo Yo Honey Singh) - London Winning Entries of 2020 Ranking 1 Rebecca & Fiona - Fet House Mode 2 Tei Shi - Die 4 Ur Love 3 Nora En Pure - Wetlands 4 Nova Miller - Mi Amor 5 Everglow - LA DI DA 6 Betty Who - The One 7 Sheppard - Die Young 8 NINA - Automatic Call 9 Smith & Thell - Goliath 10 Klangkarussell & GIVVEN - Ghostkeeper 18-Pointers of 2020 Ranking 1 Fractal Dreamers - Azure Of The Horizon 2 KAS:ST - Hell On Earth 3 Vacant - Hidden 4 Alestorm - f***ed with an Anchor 5 Amnesia Scanner - AS Tearless (feat. Lalita) 6 Music Instructor - Rock Your Body (Brainbug Remix) 7 DJ Paul Elstak & Klubbheads - Memories 8 Apashe - Lord & Master 9 Randy Dominguez - Warrior 10 SHAUN - Way Back Home

I'll be in Greece so will be at 3AM for me D: On the plus side I'll be on holiday so no falling asleep at my desk later on.

Andreeva suffering from the classic Roland Garros curse at Wimbledon.

Wowzers this is close! :O

BJSC 130 Host Country: Cor Lupus Overview As another BJSC season drew to a close it was a time of reflection for us as we experienced our most challenging year so far with just a solitary top 10 result alongside three DNQs and three bottom 3 finishes, resulting in an EOY final position of 37th. Preparations for a bounce back in form for the following year were already underway but meanwhile we essentially had a 'free hit' of sorts for 130 so went a bit rogue for the first time in a while. This contest memorably started off as a bit of a disaster in the semis with half of our votes not making the final cut. Cor Lupus were the hosts once again for a contest won for a second time by Land of DW. In the EOY leaderboard for 2020, Altyr Muunilinst came out on top ahead of Hendinia & Aeroche, all 3 nations separated by a mere 48 points. Dobago's Entry Result: DNQ (26th in Semi) The aforementioned "rogue" entry was this hip hop banger from a then much less-known American rapper under her previous guise of Mulatto. We had long toyed with the idea of sending a rap entry more out of sheer curiosity rather than expectation and this 'end of school year' contest presented the perfect opportunity to throw one of our random discoveries out there. This is a swift, action-packed rap track full of attitude and personality, akin to likes of Megan Thee Stallion whom had had a big commercial breakthrough earlier in the year. Most likely the shortest entry we've ever sent clocking in at just over 2 and a half minutes, it's just a bit of fun that was totally against the grain of our typical sound and rather predictably, it bombed in the contest although did pick a semi-respectable 9 votes. Not a song I've actively dug out much since however Latto would go on to enjoy commercial success of her own in the coming years, becoming the first ever Dobagan representative to subsequently chart in the UK top 40. A neat little badge of honour there! Winning Entry Country: Land of DW 2020 was certainly a good year for winners whereby we were already familiar with several of their past works. South African DJ Nora En Pure had been a bit of a favourite of ours for a good while, even achieving a #1 single during the Personal Charts era with 'Tell My Heart'. Her unique take on deep and progressive house, often encompassing delicate and reflective sounds won many fans across the Forum and it was likely only a matter of time before she struck gold in this contest. Coincidentally, just like with previous winners Everglow, she had scored a 18th position on debut before going all the way to the top on second attempt. Like much of her discography, 'Wetlands' is a beautiful and enchanting piece that truly absorbs you into the music, expertly incorporating the animal sound effects to further enhance an authentic listening experience. That said, this entry had a lot going against it from a winning perspective, it being an instrumental and an extremely short one at that, not even breaching the 2 and half minute threshold. Because of this I personally found it an extremely surprising winner, it managing to achieve widespread admiration from all pockets of voters, amassing a seriously impressive 361 points. This included 7 from Dobago, so it was nice to end the year on a strong suit once again. It probably deserved more from us but I remember feeling, and still in fact do, that the version sent was simply too short from a personal preference. Luckily there exists an extended mix that scratches this particular itch. 18-Pointer Country: Kluminican Republic (result: 10th) Not one I immediately recognise from title alone and even listening to it back now I don't vividly recall it from the contest. It's an abrasive serving of EDM containing elements of dubstep and trap, which samples a classical piece of J.S. Bach. The way the violin sections are intertwined with the bludgeoning contemporary production is highly impressive and makes for an all round fascinating listen. That said, I'm surprised this got our gold medal, a third for Kluminican Republic, as it certainly doesn't hold up quite so well today. That may be because dubstep in general has dated rather a lot worse than other subgenres but generally I just don't hold the same level of affinity for this sort of sound as I once did. It's definitely an intriguing song that has a lot going for it but would fall considerably down the order now on a retrospective review. Our 15 & 13 pointers meanwhile have stood out as long-term massive faves, those being the utterly glorious power metal yuletide anthem of 'Ghost of Christmas Past' and the brilliant dance-Kpop bop of 'Dream Of You' which are extremely difficult to separate but I have to just about give it to the former. A true essential every year when the weather's getting colder and the nights are getting longer. In a very strong contest, other standouts include the 2000s eurotrance hit 'The Lonely One', the dramatic and theatrical 'sad magic' and a self-described "intense symphonic metal cover" of 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'. Of course we had to have a good old fashioned Mozart vs Bach scrap which, in this case at least, was comfortably won the latter.

This was inevitable eventually.

Spurs actually backing the manager, never ever thought I'd see the day. Although this does reek of when they burned all the Bale proceeds on absolute flops (Eriksen aside)

Another heroic moment from Harry, let's see this out now.

Phew, back to parity. Now to not screw this up from here.

Nah it wouldn't be as big as the Iceland defeat imo. DR Congo higher in the rankings than Iceland were (and have a much bigger population obviously). But it would be a shocker, seriously. And I think it's safe to say even we do scrape this, we are getting absolutely smoked by Mexico in the next round anyway.

Had some good chances which is encouraging at least. Mpasi having a blinder so far. Big concerns at the back though, could easily be 2 down.

No chance, Kane was half way on the ground by the time he makes contact with the keeper.

Forest unsurprisingly have managed to squeeze in another manager within a 12-month timeframe. Glasner is the next to ruin his managerial career.

That's what happens when you pick a right back who was nearly relegated last season...

Now *this* has Norway win written all over it. Norway is the ONLY team in the World that has never lost to Brazil. Add to that Brazil has been knocked out by a different European in each of the past 5 World Cups. BUT, they do have Ancelotti in their corner.

This will be an interesting one. I really don't see Paraguay being able to employ their tactics against Germany against such a devasting French attack. Could be a result more in line with their USA defeat opener.

BJSC 129 Host Country: FARC Overview Onto the penultimate contest of the year and we had quietly been building up a respectable qualifying streak again despite the general lowly results. We were back to 'regular' potentials now so could we see out the year with a run of 7 finals reached? As winners last time out FARC hosted the entire contest, which ended in a third victory for Cor Lupus just shy of 2 years after their previous one. Not much else springs to mind with this one so on with the highlighted songs... Dobago's Entry Result: DNQ (22nd in Semi) Well. the answer to the question above was a no unfortunately, despite picking up a solid half century of points in the semi, bringing the qualifying streak to an end. I truly have no idea how I first discovered this slick drum and bass track but I was drawn in by the gradual piano-chord build-up and sporadic smatterings of electronic guitar. The whole piece with its repeated "people... evil people" refrain and the playful riffs gives off a huge whiff of a sample and indeed I have just dug out the original inspiration, namely a 1971 jazz rock song entitled 'Out Of Reach' by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. This is in fact new information to me as of right now as I certainly didn't care to dig any deeper at the time. That probably also goes some way to explaining the curious name of the act behind this entry. Either way, this drum and bass makeover was a fun find for myself yet sadly failed to make the cut in BJSC. Admittedly, it's not one I've revisited much in the time since and wouldn't be troubling the upper reaches of a full Dobagan ranking today. Fun fact, the semi-final also consisted of a rather more well-known and similarly named act in Utah Saints! Winning Entry Country: Cor Lupus K-pop had long been a strong presence in the competition yet had never managed to produce a winning track. That all changed here though in dramatic fashion as this entry pulled off an impressive 35-point winning margin. The genre is certainly very hit and miss for me as I find a lot of it largely similar in sound and nature, with songs generally needing to do quite a bit to properly stand out. EVERGLOW had in fact been entered just 3 contest prior, coming home in 18th so there was no initial obvious signs this one would do a whole lot better. It actually falls into a similar bracket of many K-pop songs for me, being perfectly listenable and enjoyable without overly capturing my attention. I like the upbeat, punchy feeling of the song and the chorus is an undeniable earworm but I certainly wouldn't be in a rush to hit the replay button. We did afford it 3 points in our ranking so were pleased to avoid another winning entry snub but there are definitely a handful of prior entries from its field that we would have preferred to have broken the proverbial glass ceiling. 18-Pointer (Alestorm - f***ed with an Anchor) Country: Séyetana (result: 19th) Well I suppose it had to happen eventually that one of these entries would be backlisted on external websites but hey ho, them's the breaks! It has been mentioned a few times now my penchant for a good ol' novelty banger and this is the sort of thing that's so far up my street it can't even see the exit. For a song of this ilk to truly work it has to go all in with 100% unbated enthusiasm. The sheer hilarity of the overtly juvenile lyrics, especially when sung in that accent, over the backing of a rock-infused sea shanty makes this one truly memorable 'work of art'. It takes a lot to genuinely make me laugh at hearing a song for the first time but this managed to do that that in spades. I certainly couldn't objectively class this as the pick of the bunch in terms of outright quality but for leaving an overall positive impression, very few entries have done what they were presumably set out to do quite as effectively as this one. Amazingly, it finished in the top half to rapturous applause from our delegation. A first ever 18 from us to Séyetana and a huge standout that would have needed something truly spellbinding to oust it from the top step of our podium, it led home 2 pop tracks, those being the wildly unhinged 'Jealous of Myself' and the smooth, sassy serving of 'NATURE' - Elley Duhé at last getting her deserved success in this contest on attempt #3.

Now it's time for the Sugas.

Bro was going home anyway so also wanted to stress test the protocol

Damn that's wild.

Someone likes the Triangle button!

Damn it was close with Debelah in the end, at least I voted the optimal way. Dancing In The Dark is easy top 100 song of all time for me. Over You is also brilliant. Going for MIA next, one of the most overrated songs ever.

The World Cup is like the General Election. If you fail you're out.

Should have stuck to the acting.

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes Absolutely hated it as a kid. Like it rather a lot more now.