Chez VampireBat

This is probably my favourite top 3 in any of these 😍 I've gone for the Killers, but it's like picking between Neapolitan ice cream flavours.

Lost all of 3-1 points, not great but I guess it's better than the 3 the other end! 03; Scotland 2 \ Che - BLACK SWAN 02; Bronzil \ Mirella - Timanttei 01; Lookylion \ Henryk Górecki, Dawn Upshaw, London Sinfonietta & David Zinman - Symphony No. 3, Op. 36: II. Lento E Largo - Tranquillissimo I'm hoping that there's a lot of growers in this semi, as I left listening quite late so didn't get as much time to connect with them, as well as some goods in Semi 2.

Thought for sure I was in the wrong semi there, but glad to sneak out of it, thanks all Sad for Scotland 2 (knew it was completely doomed, but a striking song for sure) and Lookylion (Much as I love classical music, I'm not quite as big a fan of opera so that did dock it a few points, but still a lovely, standout piece). Ah, Bronzil too now, that was a nice song aww x

The video to Another Chance is gorgeous, it's a really nice song anyway but played alongside makes it hit a lot harder.

This was really good. Zack Cregger's proving to be a real master of unravelling storytelling, there was a palpable sense of dread throughout and seeing things through different perspectives was really well done. I did think once the climax came and it got a little more silly in the conclusion, it lost some of it's earlier power and I did think Barbarian did the mad tonal shift a bit better, but it didn't affect my enjoyment and it's still an insanely gripping film until the final minutes. I watched with a fairly quiet audience so I guess I got off lucky there (quiet morning screenings are so much better x)

I'm glad to at least see one nation actually doing something concrete to sanction them, weak finger wagging and saying this is wrong is doing nothing at this stage. The cards are on the table now - he fully intends to take Gaza City, contradicting their earlier foreign policy, and the US is just shrugging it's shoulders, they're not gonna stop while they've still got that support. I'm trying my hardest to not doom-scroll and despair, but it's pretty tough right now, what a bleak world we live in.

Take Me Home Country Roads was played in a restaurant when I was in India and me and the Americans I was travelling had a bit of a fun moment with it, a timeless song x Swimming Pools (Drank) is one of my favourites from Kendrick, so that's a disappointing early exit. Love on the Brain is a recent discovery from listening to ANTI and I really love the 50s doo-wop sound, I'm pleased it made it this far. No complaints about Believer that low though, that being here is borderline insulting the classics that dropped out at the semis.

From what I gather, I don't think the employee is even confirmed to be Trans? It's just this woman assuming so due to their height. It seems like it was almost planned to be a hit piece especially with how quickly the press picked it up, despicable stuff.

I didn't know this at all until the research so there you go, your influence spans wider than I thought! (She's not actually listed as an official member on wiki, although apparently she's his wife and co-produced the album so that checks out x) I only vaguely remember her entry, but unless it was Norwegian noise rock then I guess not x Was hoping for 1BF as this song is a pretty niche pick and sure enough that's a dreadful draw for me, coming for whoever put semis ahead after I last looked xx

This has been instant love from first listen. I agree it really brings to mind Cocteau Twins and that 90s shoegaze/alternative sound, and I think it's wonderful we have someone using their starpower to harken back to this sound rather than imitate what's popular now. As much as The Giver fell flat for me, I do think this coming straight after confirms that she's not afraid to experiment which makes every release much more interesting.

Oh Wardy! 21 Seconds is an absolute classic of it's genre and absolutely does not deserve bottom 10 amongst all that blandness x That would easily be top 10 for me. I would also dispute Afroman being last, it's a gimmick but it's a fun one. 2001 was a pretty poor year for number 1s overall, but there were a few highlights and pleased to see most of them still to come x

and done x 50; Oasis- Champagne Supernova 49; Lou Reed- Perfect Day 48; Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb 47; Simon & Garfunkel- The Sound Of Silence 46; Woodkid- Run Boy Run 45; Tame Impala- Let It Happen 44; Vampire Weekend- A-Punk 43; Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Heads Will Roll 42; Pixies- Where Is My Mind 41; Lykke Li- I Follow Rivers 40; The Beatles- Here Comes The Sun 39; Dolly Parton- 9 To 5 38; Alphaville- Forever Young 37; The Waitresses- Christmas Wrapping 36; John Denver- Take Me Home, Country Roads 35; Blondie- One Way Or Another 34; Oasis- Morning Glory 33; The Beach Boys- Wouldn't It Be Nice 32; Talking Heads- Psycho Killer 31; Empire Of The Sun- Walking On A Dream 30; Gorillaz- On Melancholy Hill 29; Rihanna- Love On The Brain 28; Kendrick Lamar- Swimming Pools (Drank) 27; Stevie Nicks- Edge Of Seventeen 26; The Beatles- Blackbird 25; Queen- We Will Rock You 24; Blossoms- Charlemagne 23; Frank Ocean- Lost 22; Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here 21; Fleetwood Mac- The Chain (Aerosmith - Dream On) 20; Kiss- I Was Made For Lovin' You 19; The Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter 18; David Bowie- Changes 17; Daryl Hall & John Oates- You Make My Dreams 16; Van Morrison- Brown Eyed Girl 15; The Beatles- In My Life 14; Lily Allen- F**k You 13; The 1975- Somebody Else 12; Arctic Monkeys- Mardy Bum 11; Arctic Monkeys- I Wanna Be Yours 10; Elton John- Tiny Dancer 09; Bryan Adams- Summer Of '69 08; Oasis- She's Electric 07; The Who- Baba O'Riley (Oasis - Half the World Away) 06; Tina Turner- Proud Mary 05; Two Door Cinema Club- What You Know 04; Adele- Rumour Has It 03; Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell- Ain't No Mountain High Enough 02; Duke Dumont- Ocean Drive 01; Imagine Dragons- Believer

I'm planning to vote, I've just got back from my holiday so I just need to famiiarise myself with some of these

I'm flying tomorrow so may not catch the rest of this, be kind to Escala guys x

Oh my, I had no idea someone else was after Escala, sorry about that Bre, but at least it led to one of my favourites from the contest x I'm quite intrigued to hear their cover of Aerodynamic (they also had a version of Clubbed to Death on their album which was interesting). Thank you so much for these generous votes, amazed to be 2nd atm!

I thought I'd be pretty easy to guess, so I was pleasantly surprised to just get the one x I really had to think with this theme, but I did always love Escala's brand of epic classical music, Palladio went top 40 so I went with another random one from their album, and I do think their sound suits the epic riff of Kashmir very well (I mean it sounds straight out of a talent show result show opening x) Thanks for the votes so far, wasn't sure how well it would go down as it's quite different to most others here, I'm glad someone else also went with an instrumental entry as Tokio Myers is an inspired choice and Blood was also a really interesting sound, never expected something so good from The Voice x

I am pleased to see this but I would also like more time and resources to go into educating 16 and 17 year olds about the importance of voting and political education and making an informed decision. From working with this age in my job, I would be concerned as it stands that many either wouldn't be engaged enough to vote or be susceptible to misinformation.

Shame about Time, one of the very best classical soundtracks of recent years <3

Aww, Stacy's Mom is a classic x But this is a great final 5, going for KT Tunstall.

Run to win <3

Finished this now, I realise I didn't give my thoughts on S2, although they are fairly similar to my overall thoughts on the season...I didn't really think Squid Game needed a second season or whatever this split in half season was and this backed up that it didn't really, It was still mainly enjoyable, Episode 2 with the Hide and Seek game was right up there with the Marbles episode from S1 and the actual likeable characters like the boy and his grandmother, Hyun-Ju and Jun-hee were handled pretty well. But killing them all off before the final game just creates no suspense as literally every single character left is unlikeable and it's clear that we're just building up to their inevitable deaths, certainly true of Player 100 and of all the characters to keep to the end, Min-su and MG Coin?! They were both completely irredeemable after their actions earlier in the season so there was no chance of a redemption arc, and as dark as the show gets, they were never going to kill a baby. I thought Gi-Hun's end made sense as his story feels complete, but he just spent the whole season 3 silently death-staring at others, he seemed a bit sloppy overall considering how he started the season. VIPs still awful too, did not need so many cuts to them. And while the games were good, I concur with others that the other subplots just went nowhere, Jun-ho spent the whole season just on a boat aimlessly which wasn't great form for someone that's supposed to be such a good detective, and by the end, it just led to absolutely nothing! Il-nam got out fine (another great character that was really underused in the second part), just lives lost for nothing. The Korean defector's storyline had so much potential, but again she just coasted for half of the season and we didn't really find out anything mindblowing about the guards that we didn't already know. Ultimately, it just felt a bit empty and aimless, there wasn't any big revelations, new explorations of characters or world-building, it's reason for being just seems to be that Season 1 was popular, and tbf I don't think there is much to explore, it's a critique of capitalism that has turned into a capitalist product, bloody MrBeast ensured that much. A US remake doesn't surprise me in the slightest (they wouldn't get Cate Blanchett for nothing), but I can't say I have much interest as I think whatever anti-capitalist point it was trying to make has completely fizzled and Hollywood taking charge doesn't really give much confident it'll be back.

Well I am well known for my pop sensibilities x

The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime Bob Marley And The Wailers - Could You Be Loved Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Game ('Theme From The Invaders')/Firecracker Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart Kate Bush - Babooshka Those classics really came through at the end of the session x (and YMO a great discovery as they always are) Week 3 Tiebreak Blondie - Call Me

25; Lou Reed- Perfect Day 24; Woodkid- Run Boy Run 23; Hans Zimmer- Time 22; Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Heads Will Roll 21; Vampire Weekend- A-Punk 20; Talking Heads- Psycho Killer 19; John Denver- Take Me Home, Country Roads 18; Oasis- Morning Glory 17; Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here 16; Alphaville- Forever Young 15; Stevie Nicks- Edge Of Seventeen 14; Queen- We Will Rock You 13; Blossoms- Charlemagne 12; The Waitresses- Christmas Wrapping 11; The Beatles- Blackbird 10; Kiss- I Was Made For Lovin' You 09; The Beatles- In My Life 08; Ben Howard- Keep Your Head Up 07; Van Morrison- Brown Eyed Girl 06; Daryl Hall & John Oates- You Make My Dreams 05; Rascal Flatts- Life Is A Highway 04; Rihanna- Kiss It Better 03; Taylor Swift- Delicate 02; The 1975- It's Not Living (If It's Not With You) 01; Oasis- She's Electric

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?Second album I've listened to from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Are You Experienced? was the debut studio album released and compared to Electric Ladyland which initially confounded critics, was an instant success both critically and commercially, introducing the world to the unique songwriting and pioneering psychedelic guitar sounds. After Hendrix struggled to gain a career on the R'n'B circuit as a rhythm guitarist, the band was put together to showcase Hendrix's talents and were signed by Track, a new record label by The Who's managers. It peaked at number 2 in the UK and 5 in the US and contains some of Hendrix's best known hits, it is still deemed by many critics as one of the best rock albums of all time. Following the last very trippy and intriguing experience from Jimi Hendrix, this one felt a bit simpler by comparison which I suppose was influenced by less chaotic and drug-fuelled recording sessions and there actually being some structure present to the songs. There are some well known classics here which I already knew - Hey Joe and Purple Haze (and I did recognise Foxy Lady as well but wouldn't have been able to name it), which I can't add much to that hasn't already been said except that I don't object x As expected, there are a lot of excellent guitar riffs here that work wonderfully with Hendrix's confident, free-spirited style, I Don't Live Today is one of my favourite examples of this. The psychedelia shows it's head the most in Third Stone from the Sun, a near seven minute instrumental with spoken-word and jazz-influenced sections, referencing the position of Earth as the third planet from the Sun and reflecting Hendrix's interests in psychedelia. It is really quite an inspired epic and was a highlight, the title track also made use of Indian instruments and drones. It's an album that never settles for sounding like atypical rock and melding many more influences in and it's all the better for it. He's not afraid to show his emotional side as well, The Wind Cries Mary is a very effective ballad. The official version now includes what was initially the deluxe version released in 1997 so to be complete, I listened to these which does add a bit of a bloat on. I've gotta be honest, none of them really made a huge impression on me or did anything especially different to what was already made clear in the first half, except exemplifiying his free-spirited, anti-commitment approach to relationships in some of the lyrics. So while I could've done without those, this is an overall impressive piece of work that does show you in case you weren't already convinced, how influential Hendrix was. I did prefer the loose, experimental feel of Electric Ladyland, but did appreciate the clear structure and focus here so I don't have a huge preference, and both I think give you a pretty good overview of the legend he was. 8.0