A Little Slice of SpinTunes Christmas, Vol 1

Season's greetings to all in the SpinTunes community! SpinTunes regular Mike, who submits as The Dutch Widows / cardamom seed, has organized a SpinTunes Christmas album to celebrate the holiday season. It features twenty submissions, old and new, and can be streamed or downloaded at Bandcamp or embedded below. Enjoy!

ST23 Bonus Round

The SpinTunes 23 Bonus Round is full of great covers and remixes of songs from throughout the tournament, as well as some surprises from the SpinTunes vault. If you missed the Listening Party, you can stream or download the full album on Bandcamp or embedded below:

ST23.4 Reviews - Chumpy, Ryan, and Micah

SpinTunes 23 Champions Chumpy and Ryan discuss the Final Round entries and shadows on their podcast Two Jerks One Vote, where they are joined this time around by SpinTunes administrator Micah Sommersmith.

SpinTunes 23 Final Results

The contestants have cast their votes, and the results of the SpinTunes 23 Final Round have been determined. Congratulations to our SpinTunes 23 Champions, Cavedwellers!

Listen to Cavedwellers' winning entry, "The Only Way Out", the three other finalists' songs, and 13 shadow entries on Bandcamp or embedded below.

Read on for the full results and links to judges' reviews!

ST23.4 Reviews - ChasRock

Warning: Please don’t listen to the ST RD4 album while operating a motor vehicle or any other large machinery. 

It’s been a really long time since I’ve tried to write and record a song by myself in a day, so I took the only free afternoon I had last week to submit a shadow. Boy, that was humbling! I had that classic experience where I wrote, recorded, and mixed everything in the span of several hours, so by the end of the process, none of the sounds made sense anymore. 

I don’t hate the song I wrote, but when the round four album was released, I listened to the version I turned in and there’s an annoying, amateurish guitar that I left in when I was trying to create textural layers. It sticks out in a BIG way, especially in mono, which for me completely ruins the whole “go to sleep” vibe. Awesome. That’s awesome. 

Maybe someday I’ll re-record or rearrange, but ultimately I’m still glad I made something just to make it because the joy has always been in the process. The only reason I bring any of this up is because I really enjoyed judging this competition and I want to thank all of the artists for being vulnerable and putting a bunch of work into these brilliant little creations, only to have some stranger who is *alright* at songcraft tell them that they mixed a cymbal too loud or whatever. I have no idea who will win, but y’all rock. Micah rocks. ST4ever and thanks for having me. 

ST23.4 Reviews - Edric Haleen

My Process:

A little different this time, as I knew my Friday-through-Sunday wasn’t going to be available for SpinTunes-related things.  I listened and jotted down initial impressions during the Listening Party.  Then on Wednesday, after the beginning-of-the-week busyness and before the onset of the end-of-the-week busyness, I went through just the four official Finalist songs.  Sorry to leave everyone who shadowed hanging, but thanks for participating . . . and I hope you had an awesome time!

ST23.4 Reviews - Leonie Connellan

Glad I’m not choosing the winner this time. Unless it ends up being a four way tie, which I can totally see happening honestly. There is so little between all these songs that putting them in any kind of order feels like an exercise in randomness. At the end of the day, the winner on my list is the one that surprised me into crying the most.

ST23 Bonus Round Listening Party and Champion Announcement

The end of SpinTunes 23 is nigh. At tonight's Listening Party, the name of the SpinTunes 23 Champion will be revealed. But first, we'll hear eight covers of SpinTunes artists by SpinTunes artists. Join us at 10 pm EDT on Youtube or embedded below. As always, Tommy G is our faithful host.

ST23 Final Round Listening Party, Contestant Voting and Bonus Round

This blog post is packed with info, so please do give it a read!

First of all, congratulations to our four finalists, all of whom submitted competing entries to the Final Round. We also have eleven Final Round shadows, and your first chance to hear all fifteen songs is at tonight's Listening Party hosted by Tommy G!

Tommy G will start spinning the Final Round tunes at 10 pm tonight. Join us on YouTube or embedded below!

Contestant Voting

Our panel of judges have been offering their opinions throughout the contest, but they don't get the last word! In the Final Round, it's the previously eliminated contestants who rank the entries!

In other words, if you had a competing entry in Round 1 and not in the Final Round, you get a vote to determine the SpinTunes 23 Champion. A ballot will be sent to you by email later this week, and all votes will be due by Sunday, October 27 at 11:59 pm EDT. You'll be asked to rank all four entries from your favorite to least favorite, just as the judges have been doing.

Bonus Round

While you're mulling over your votes, you also have a chance to celebrate all the music of SpinTunes 23 by submitting a cover version to the Bonus Album! Record your own version of any competing entry or shadow from any round of SpinTunes 23. We'll hear all the covers at one last Listening Party on Monday October 28, when the Final Round voting results and the identity of the SpinTunes 23 Champion will also be revealed!

ST23 Round 3 Results and Album

Your Round 3 results are in. As in Round 2, all five judges gave their number one spot to a different entrant. But one song earned consistently high scores from all five judges: Cavedwellers takes the top spot with their song "In Prypiat" celebrating the new Chernobyl Power Plant.

Looking at the podium, you'd think the challenge was "Write a song about an impending disaster": The Alleviators take second place with "Only Human", their depiction of Eve with her teeth hovering over the apple; and Celestial Drift comes in third with "It'll Be Okay", the story of a man hunkering down in the face of a hurricane. Rounding out the Final Round slate, fourth place goes to The Pannacotta Army for their celebration of the narrator's disaster of a "Cool Dad".

The full album is now in ranked order, and you can listen on Bandcamp or embedded below.

Read on for full rankings and links to judges' reviews!

ST23.3 Reviews and Rankings - Leonie Connellan

Here are your rankings from Leonie Connellan of Hot Pink Halo:

The Alleviators	1
cardamom seed	2
Cavedwellers	3
The Pannacotta Army	4
With Joe	5
Stacking Theory	6
The Moon Bureau	7
Celestial Drift	8
Sober	9
My Broken Demo Tape	10
Siebass	11
glennny	12
SpinTown & Company	13

Leonie says:

Hello contestants! This week I did not need to write 3000-5000 words about your songs because I spoke them instead! You can find my reviews as an honorary Third Jerk on the wonderful Two Jerks One Vote podcast.

ST23.3 Reviews and Rankings - Ryan Finholm

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 13 Champion Ryan Finholm:

Cavedwellers	1
The Alleviators	2
With Joe	3
cardamom seed	4
Siebass	5
The Moon Bureau	6
Celestial Drift	7
The Pannacotta Army	8
Stacking Theory	9
My Broken Demo Tape	10
Sober	11
glennny	12
SpinTown & Company	13

Ryan and Chumpy offer their reviews on their podcast Two Jerks One Vote.

ST23.3 Reviews and Rankings - Chumpy

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 13 Champion Chumpy:

My Broken Demo Tape	1
Cavedwellers	2
Celestial Drift	3
The Alleviators	4
The Pannacotta Army	5
Sober	6
The Moon Bureau	7
With Joe	8
cardamom seed	9
glennny	10
Stacking Theory	11
Siebass	12
SpinTown & Company	13

Chumpy and Ryan offer their reviews on their podcast Two Jerks One Vote.

ST23.3 Reviews and Rankings - Edric Haleen

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 10 Champion Edric Haleen:

The Pannacotta Army	1
Cavedwellers	2
Celestial Drift	3
The Alleviators	4
My Broken Demo Tape	5
Sober	6
SpinTown & Company	7
With Joe	8
The Moon Bureau	9
glennny	10
Stacking Theory	11
Siebass	12
cardamom seed	13

Read on for a description of Edric's process and a link to his full reviews:

ST23.3 Reviews and Rankings - ChasRock

Here are your rankings from ChasRock:

Celestial Drift	1
Cavedwellers	2
My Broken Demo Tape	3
The Alleviators	4
glennny	5
With Joe	6
Stacking Theory	7
The Pannacotta Army	8
The Moon Bureau	9
cardamom seed	10
Sober	11
SpinTown & Company	12
Siebass	13

Read on for Chas's reviews!

ST23 Final Round Challenge

The sun will soon be setting on SpinTunes 23. You've toiled at writing and recording three brand-new songs, and you're probably exhausted by now. But before you take a well-deserved rest, there's one last challenge for you to fulfill. 

Read on for your Final Round challenge:

ST23.3 Listening Party and Deadline News

The Round 3 deadline has passed. Your first chance to hear all the brand-new Round 3 songs is at tonight's Listening Party, hosted by Tommy G at 10 pm EDT. Join us on YouTube or embedded below.

One eligible entrant failed to submit a song by the deadline, leaving an open slot for shadow reinstatement. When deciding who to reinstate, the judges and I have used our discretion this round to consider challenge fulfillment as well as previous round ranking. Welcome back to the competition, SpinTown & Company!

ST23 Round 2 Results and Album

The judges have submitted their Round 2 rankings. In Round 1 every judge agreed on their favorite song; this time every judge gave the top spot to a different entry. One of those entries, however, earned second or third place from every other judge and thus easily took the top spot in the aggregate rankings. Congratulations to My Broken Demo Tape, who won the round with their heartfelt song "Die Happy".

Sober took second place with "Plastic Paddy", and Also In Blue's "Tenebrae" earned them third place.

The full album is now in ranked order, and can be streamed or downloaded on Bandcamp or embedded below, with cover art by Matt "Shoobs" Schubbe.

Read on for the full rankings and links to each judge's reviews!

ST23.2 Reviews and Rankings - Chumpy

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 13 Champion Chumpy:

Cavedwellers	1
My Broken Demo Tape	2
The Alleviators	3
Also In Blue	4
Sober	5
Celestial Drift	6
glennny	7
Governing Dynamics	8
With Joe	9
cardamom seed	10
Stacking Theory	11
The Moon Bureau	12
The Pannacotta Army	13
Flintsteel	14
See-Man-Ski	15
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	16
SpinTown & Company	17
West of Vine	18
Profestriga	19
Berkeley Social Scene	20
▷	21
Siebass	22
Boffo Yux Dudes	23

Chumpy and Ryan offer their reviews on their podcast Two Jerks One Vote. 

ST23.2 Reviews and Rankings - Ryan Finholm

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 13 Champion Ryan Finholm:

My Broken Demo Tape	1
Also In Blue	2
Sober	3
cardamom seed	4
Cavedwellers	5
Celestial Drift	6
The Moon Bureau	7
The Pannacotta Army	8
glennny	9
Stacking Theory	10
The Alleviators	11
Governing Dynamics	12
Flintsteel	13
See-Man-Ski	14
With Joe	15
West of Vine	16
SpinTown & Company	17
Berkeley Social Scene	18
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	19
Siebass	20
▷	21
Boffo Yux Dudes	22
Profestriga	23

Ryan and Chumpy offer their reviews on their podcast Two Jerks One Vote. 

ST23.2 Reviews and Rankings - ChasRock

Here are your rankings from ChasRock:

Sober	1
Stacking Theory	2
My Broken Demo Tape	3
Celestial Drift	4
Also In Blue	5
glennny	6
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	7
cardamom seed	8
With Joe	9
▷	10
Flintsteel	11
The Pannacotta Army	12
Siebass	13
SpinTown & Company	14
Cavedwellers	15
The Moon Bureau	16
West of Vine	17
See-Man-Ski	18
The Alleviators	19
Berkeley Social Scene	20
Governing Dynamics	21
Profestriga	22
Boffo Yux Dudes	23

Read on for Chas's reviews!

ST23.2 Reviews and Rankings - Leonie Connellan

Here are your rankings from Leonie Connellan of Hot Pink Halo:

Stacking Theory	1
My Broken Demo Tape	2
Sober	3
West of Vine	4
cardamom seed	5
Cavedwellers	6
The Alleviators	7
Also In Blue	8
▷	9
Siebass	10
With Joe	11
The Moon Bureau	12
Celestial Drift	13
Berkeley Social Scene	14
glennny	15
Profestriga	16
SpinTown & Company	17
The Pannacotta Army	18
Governing Dynamics	19
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	20
Flintsteel	21
See-Man-Ski	22
Boffo Yux Dudes	23

Read on for Leonie's reviews!

ST23.2 Reviews and Rankings - Edric Haleen

Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 10 Champion Edric Haleen:

Siebass	1
My Broken Demo Tape	2
Cavedwellers	3
Also In Blue	4
SpinTown & Company	5
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	6
The Pannacotta Army	7
Sober	8
Stacking Theory	9
The Moon Bureau	10
▷	11
Flintsteel	12
The Alleviators	13
West of Vine	14
Celestial Drift	15
With Joe	16
See-Man-Ski	17
Profestriga	18
glennny	19
Governing Dynamics	20
Boffo Yux Dudes	21
cardamom seed	22
Berkeley Social Scene	23

Read on for a description of Edric's process and a link to his full reviews:

ST23 Round 3 Challenge

Here's a modest proposal: While the judges finalize their Round 2 rankings and reviews, why don't you get a head start on your Round 3 entries?

Read on for your Round 3 challenge:

ST23.2 Listening Party and Deadline News

The Round 2 deadline has passed, and the judges have received the songs. But your first chance to hear these songs is tonight at 9 pm at the Listening Party hosted by Tommy G. Join us on YouTube or embedded below!

A brief bit of housekeeping: I made an error in the Round 1 results post when I indicated that the top 22 songs would move on to Round 2. The elimination schedule actually calls for the top 23 to move on. The two artists tied for 23rd place, ▷ and Berkeley Social Scene, were eliminated in error. However, they were both notified of the mistake and were both able to submit competing entries.

Other competitors missing the deadline also resulted in one vacancy for a shadow reinstatement. Welcome back to the competition, Boffo Yux Dudes!

All-Request Listening Party Tonight!

Tonight at 9 pm EDT, Tommy G hosts an All-Request Listening Party!

If you have a favorite song from the SpinTunes archive, comment here with the title or send it to SpinTunesContest@gmail.com and Tommy G will play it tonight!

Join us on YouTube or embedded below.

ST23 Round 1 Results and Album

The judges have made their decisions, and Round 1 of SpinTunes 23 is in the history books. In every round, we expect quite a bit of discrepancy in the judges' rankings, as each judge brings their own ideas of what makes a good song. This is as it should be; each judge is imperfect, and we hope and trust that their individual preferences balance out when the rankings are combined.

Sometimes, though, a song is so compelling, so finely crafted and so skillfully executed, that the judges, with all their tics and biases, find themselves in perfect agreement about the place it deserves. This is one of those very rare times. By unanimous decision, Also in Blue takes the top spot this round with the song "A Mile and a Half".

Also receiving plenty of love from the judges were Definitely Not Secretly Glennny, whose eponymous meta-textual anthem winked its way to second place, and The Moon Bureau, whose clever love song "Girl with the Eyeliner" was close behind in third.

The full album is now in ranked order, and can be streamed or downloaded on Bandcamp or embedded below, with cover art by Matt "Shoobs" Schubbe.

Read on for the full rankings and links to each judge's reviews!

ST23.1 Reviews and Rankings - ChasRock

Here are your rankings from ChasRock:

Also In Blue	1
Sober	2
Definitely Not Secretly Glennny	3
SpinTown & Company	4
My Broken Demo Tape	5
C-00000291*.sys	6
The Moon Bureau	7
cardamom seed	8
Profestriga	9
West of Vine	10
Celestial Drift	11
With Joe	12
Cavedwellers	13
Governing Dynamics	14
OutLyer	15
See-Man-Ski	16
Menage a Tune	17
Berkeley Social Scene	18
▷	19
Flintsteel	20
Siebass	21
Stacking Theory	22
The Pannacotta Army	23
Night Sky	24
glennny	25
chewmeupspitmeout	26
Thorsten Nesch	27
Falcon Artist	28
James Young	29
Boffo Yux Dudes	30
Ominous Ride	31
Sharquin	32
The Alleviators	33

Read on for Chas's reviews!