Tuesday, October 29, 2024
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:
Monday, October 28, 2024
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.
ST23.4 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. (Coming soon!)
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.
Monday, October 21, 2024
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!
Sunday, October 13, 2024
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Read on for Chas's reviews!
Saturday, October 12, 2024
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:
Monday, October 7, 2024
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!
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