dandy*

My Persephonia choice would have probably surprised you… and right now I can’t even think what it’s called(!) but it made it into my main shuffle playlist after I realised how much I loved it - sadly I don’t think I realised soon enough to give it the points it deserved at the time. I will let you know the more helpful info around what it actually is once I’ve remembered 😂

I've finally got around to creating my own... Discs 1 and 2: My FLJ faves over the years 01 Headache - The Beginning Of The End [02] 02 Agnes Obel - Familiar [09] 03 Ludovico Einaudi - Experience (Starkey Remix) [05] 04 VAULTS - Cry No More [01] 05 yunè pinku - DC Rot [33] 06 Ninajirachi - Infohazard [01] 07 Foxes - Youth [01] 08 Johan Agebjörn feat. Lake Heartbeat - Watch The World Go By [05] 09 Faouzia - Don't Ever Leave Me [03] 10 Melenas - Bang [27] 11 Christine and the Queens - Christine [05] 12 Delaporte feat. Bruno - Rendición [03] 13 Patrick Wolf - Together [05] 14 Hannah Järver - Anekdoter [19] 15 Kenton Slash Demon - Harpe [08] 16 Working Men's Club - Valleys [22] 17 Digitalism - Pogo (Shinichi Osawa Remix) [10] 18 Hagop Tchaparian - Right To Riot [07] 19 Jean-Michel Blais & CFCF - Hypocrite [01] 20 Joshua Idehen - Mum Does The Washing [01] 01 Tori Amos - Spark [03] 02 Astrid Williamson - Pour [09] 03 Fever Ray - Carbon Dioxide [07] 04 Olga Bell - Randomness [30] 05 Argy & Omnya - Aria [01] 06 Karen Harding - Say Something [02] 07 Rex The Dog - Maximize [15] 08 Jam and Spoon feat. Plavka - Find Me (Odyssey To Anyoona) [07] 09 Danger - 11h30 [10] 10 Van She - Strangers (Van She Tech Rework) [14] 11 New Order - Singularity [10] 12 Joon Gloom - Joker [06] 13 George Clanton - I Been Young [04] 14 Destroyer - Hydroplaning Off The Edge Of The World [29] 15 Dan Deacon - Snookered [11] 16 Djrum - Broken Glass Arch [07] 17 Halls - White Chalk [18] 18 judeline - Mangata [19] 19 SAULT - Wildfires [37] 20 Lamb - Gorecki [DNQ] Discs 3 and 4: My favourites from other countries over the years 01 Lana Del Rey - Video Games [Isconia] 02 Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch [Deandria] 03 TR/ST - Sulk [Aeroche] 04 Grimes - Realiti [Republic of Adonia] 05 MISS LUXURY - Deal [Kathaldazia] 06 Ninajirachi - All I Am [Neliönoir] 07 Let's Eat Grandma - Happy New Year [D'yermak'er] 08 Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy [Singerpurear] 09 LP - Lost On You [Bøtanikkä] 10 Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time [FSR Rontvia] 11 iamamiwhoami - Play [Elëdan] 12 Janelle Monáe feat. Big Boi - Tightrope [Lotopialand] 13 Oliver $ and Jimi Jules - Pushing On [Ethanola] 14 Special Request - Amnesia [Cumulonimbia] 15 Nabihah Iqbal - Zone 1-6000 [Summericia] 16 College feat. Electric Youth - A Real Hero [Palmyra] 17 Blanck Mass - You [Skall] 18 Belanger - Take Me Home [Syndare] 19 Groove Armada - Paper Romance [Utopia] 20 RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom [Kluminican Republic] 01 Woodkid - Run Boy Run [Ingermanlandia] 02 Björk - Jóga [B.a.N.G] 03 The Kite String Tangle - Given The Chance [Trifoski] 04 Father John Misty - Screamland [Terra Avium] 05 CMAT feat. John Grant - Where Are Your Kids Tonight [Cheiron] 06 Lissie - Romance Police (Further Away) [Lotunia] 07 Siobhan Donaghy - Medevac [République d'Áskorza] 08 Moyka - Spaces [New Lexico] 09 Kiasmos - Looped [Aelandor] 10 OVERWERK - Toccata [Jadakissnia] 11 Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler [Danæviia] 12 Ill Peach - Comatose [Persephonia] 13 Gesaffelstein - Hate Or Glory [N DNTN] 14 Jane Inc - What If [PopHub] 15 HARD FEELINGS - Sister Infinity [Cor Lupus] 16 Icona Pop - I Love It [Ramrynia] 17 Kiesza - Dancing And Crying [Hendinia] 18 Susanne Sundfør - White Foxes [Caerfyrddia] 19 Ane Brun - Take Hold Of Me [FARC] 20 Röyksopp - The Girl And The Robot [Mdiče] Disc 1 would essentially be my stab at a single playlist, it contains nearly all of my personal favourites and I do still listen to them all on pretty heavy rotation - possible exception of Foxes but as she was my first winner it felt right to include her. Disc 2 definitely still represents my sound over the years though and I do still love all of those as well <3 Some of my bigger hits don’t make the cut at all (not even all the winners did!) but I wanted to stick with songs I’d happily listen to these days. For discs 3 and 4 I limited myself to one song per country and just went with the ones that still get the most plays round mine. I tried to stick mainly to ones that I actually discovered via the contest, although a handful of all time faves have snuck in regardless. A few notable counties that don't get included despite me being a big fan over the years, hopefully they will be forgiving! (edited to include a disc 4 to show more countries some love!)

Sweet Harmony is one of my favourite songs of the decade, absolutely wonderful track. The production is so perfect.

ALTHOUGH I already am nonplussed by these comparatively low scores for Underneath

I’ll need to do a relisten for this, but will enjoy doing so. Remind me about it if I don’t vote as I definitely want to

Wash your mouth out with your mum’s non bio colour care liquid capsules

I’m quite the fan of the results when Silas hosts

Wow at only 10 countries managing more than 4 in a row. All of those top 6 in particular have done amazingly to survive the past year and a half unscathed

I always think it's better to step away from things when you're not getting any enjoyment from them so understand your reasoning - if indeed you decide not to log back on then wishing you all the very best (and thank you for including Joshua in your last votes <3 )

Oh and I rudely forgot to say thank you to @Qween for the wonderful hosting - I am most relieved that the site gremlins disappeared just in time for the results show as that would have been a nightmare to deal with for you. On the note of hosting, I'm afraid I definitely won't be able to host 184 - and not just because I'm still traumatised from hosting last year, I have a genuine excuse as I'm away for a fortnight in a couple of weeks time so there's no way I can make the dates work (and I most definitely do not have the necessary Kath skills required to attempt to host this thing from my mobile)

Wow. Well, despite the hype in the odds thread etc, I really didn't think that Joshua would win at all and just thought it was a few of our more vocal participants who were on board with it!! I was busy catching up on the thread just now and even then I was convinced that John was building it up to have it get virtually no more points from the scoreboard freeze onwards for an oh so dramatic twist haha. It's been really lovely this contest to see a song I felt was more than likely going to DNQ take on a life of its own, the best types of entries in this contest are when you just enter something you love that then unexpectedly translates to others as well - even though I know this will have been very polar and that there will likely be just as many people who would probably rank it towards last... as I said in the confirmations thread, Mr D* really did respond with “you know you really do subject me to some shit at times” when I played it to him - I've just told him it won and he's very much annoyed with you all xx

I'm still not convinced that your artwork choice of a close up of water swirling in a washing machine didn't give us all the promotion we needed *.*

Must admit I was initially hoping to bag Kate Bush this year but I wasn't in time to get a female solo artist... Everyone else hands off(!!)

Fljójnój is a wonderful hybrid country

Q

Hendiniaism: your mum has all week to do the washing, she does it at 23:59 on Sunday BuzzJackism: you watch your mum do the washing, you get excited every time the temperature reaches a new peak. You keep a list of which washing items reached which peaks and hope one day somebody else will be interested in it.

Yeah the ending wasn’t the best. The number of laughs thing made me realise that neither of them had made many people laugh - and arguably the winner was a byproduct in the laughs they were allocated. But it was still very enjoyable on the whole, Alan was a joy in it and was actually very naturally amusing in conversation. I enjoyed all the cast though, good choices.

Agreed - I've been thinking that since the album track round as there's only so many people who would have chosen Warszawa

Glad to see I didn’t have to edit the results after all 🤩

OMG I don’t envy you doing 33!!

Aside from the ones already mentioned, Relationships, Gone and My Song 5 would all have been excellent choices for Haim as well. Sad they’ve gone as they’re a great band. Happy that Bowie scraped through though, hopefully he has an easier time of it next round

Doing this on my phone so no comments - sorry! 01 Florence 02 David Bowie 03 ABBA 04 Scissor Sisters 05 ROSALIA 06 Haim 07 Lily Allen 08 Chappell Roan 09 Kelly Clarkson 10 Atomic Kitten 11 Delta 12 Conan 13 Troye

Love this track, one of my favourites of its genre from the mid 90s

This was out whilst I was still at my peak obsession with the band - I remember really thinking it was going to be a huge number one, I was so into them that I didn’t quite factor in that most other people weren’t! 😂 If I was opting for something less mainstream then maybe this from Chorus as I always found it to be one of their more beautiful analogue synth based tracks, the chorus and the outro in particular.

Disappointed by this. Tattoo is by far the best track here and there’s very little I’d say is as strong as anything on Heal. I did quite enjoy the slower opening and closing tracks but most of the songs between felt quite generic dance pop to me. A shame.