ST26 Bonus Round Listening Party and Champion Announcement

Votes have been cast. Songs have been covered. Who got the votes? Who covered whom? The answers to both of these questions will be revealed at tonight's Listening Party!

First, Tommy G will play the five covers and one surprise medley that were submitted to the Bonus Round. Then, I'll tell you who has earned the title of SpinTunes 26 Champion. You don't want to miss it! Join us on YouTube or embedded below tonight at 9 pm EDT!

ST26 Final Round Album

We had a great time at the Listening Party hearing the excellent Final Round songs for the first time. If you missed it, never fear! The album is now available to stream or download on Bandcamp or embedded below.

Congratulations to our four finalists for delivering four great songs. For the rest of you, you'll receive an email later this week with instructions to cast your vote to determine who takes the title of SpinTunes 26 Champion. In the meantime, get these songs in your ears - you won't regret it!

SpinTunes 26 Final Round Listening Party, Deadline News, and Bonus Round

The Final Round deadline has passed. With no Wild Card submission, we have four finalists competing for the title of SpinTunes 26 Champion. And in this round, it's their fellow SpinTunes 26 contestants, not the judges, who will be deciding who takes the title!

But first we've got to hear those songs. Your first chance to hear them (and our four shadow entries) is at tonight's Listening Party hosted by Tommy G at 10 pm EDT. Join us on YouTube or embedded below.

The Final Round deadline passing means we are also now in the Bonus Round! You've got until Monday, October 26 at 9 am EDT to submit covers of your fellow contestants' songs (competing entries or shadows!). We'll have one last Listening Party next week when we hear your Bonus Round covers and then find out who takes home the title of Champion!

SpinTunes 26 Round 3 Results

The judges had an incredibly tough job ranking the eighteen entries in Round 3, but they rose to the challenge. With their rankings tabulated, we have our finalists!

Taking the top spot in Round 3 was SpinTunes newcomer Stefan Szabo, whose "Mother", an ode to a self-sacrificing parent, earned top marks from two different judges. We have a tie for second place, with traumadolls and Sober earning equal points for "Cycle of Sirens" and "Make You a Headstone", respectively. Taking fourth place in Round 3 is miscellaneous owl, who wove together memory, time, and nature in her meditative entry "Writ in Water".

One more contestant gets to move on to the Final Round - our Wild Card is determined by combining rankings from all three previous rounds. Earning that spot with consistently good rankings across the entire tournament is Ironbark. Congratulations to all five of our finalists!

Read on for the full Round 3 rankings, Wild Card tabulation, and links to judges' reviews!

ST26 R3 Reviews and Rankings - Beka Gurney

Here are your Round 3 rankings from SpinTunes 25 Champion Beka Gurney:

1	Stefan Szabo
2	miscellaneous owl
3	Ironbark
4	Sober
5	traumadolls
6	Sunflower Bastard
7	Stacking Theory
8	Flintsteel
9	Cheslain
10	David Taro
11	Brother Baker
12	Carrie Spillane
13	The Moon Bureau
14	Nathan Joe Long
15	Best Dad In Yorkshire
16	Ominous Ride
17	Hot Pink Halo
18	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion

Read on for Beka's reviews!

ST26 R3 Reviews and Rankings - Ian Blaylock

Here are your Round 3 rankings from Ian Blaylock:

1	miscellaneous owl
2	Best Dad In Yorkshire
3	Flintsteel
4	Sunflower Bastard
5	Stacking Theory
6	traumadolls
7	Sober
8	Ironbark
9	Nathan Joe Long
10	Brother Baker
11	Stefan Szabo
12	Carrie Spillane
13	David Taro
14	Hot Pink Halo
15	The Moon Bureau
16	Cheslain
17	Ominous Ride
18	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion

Read on for Ian's reviews!

ST26 R3 Reviews and Rankings - Mo

Here are your Round 3 rankings from Mo:

1	Sunflower Bastard
2	Nathan Joe Long
3	Carrie Spillane
4	traumadolls
5	Cheslain
6	Stefan Szabo
7	Hot Pink Halo
8	miscellaneous owl
9	Best Dad In Yorkshire
10	Ironbark
11	Flintsteel
12	Sober
13	David Taro
14	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
15	Brother Baker
16	Stacking Theory
17	The Moon Bureau
18	Ominous Ride

Read on for Mo's reviews!

ST26 R3 Reviews and Rankings - Paul R. Potts

Here are your Round 3 rankings from Paul R. Potts:

1	Carrie Spillane
2	Sober
3	Nathan Joe Long
4	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
5	Stefan Szabo
6	Hot Pink Halo
7	Ironbark
8	Stacking Theory
9	traumadolls
10	The Moon Bureau
11	David Taro
12	miscellaneous owl
13	Brother Baker
14	Ominous Ride
15	Cheslain
16	Best Dad In Yorkshire
17	Flintsteel
18	Sunflower Bastard

Read on for Paul's reviews!

ST26 R3 Rankings - Travis Norris

Here are your Round 3 rankings from SpinTunes 5 and SpinTunes 25 Champion Travis Norris:

1	Stefan Szabo
2	Sober
3	traumadolls
4	Stacking Theory
5	David Taro
6	miscellaneous owl
7	Brother Baker
8	Cheslain
9	Flintsteel
10	The Moon Bureau
11	Nathan Joe Long
12	Ironbark
13	Sunflower Bastard
14	Carrie Spillane
15	Best Dad In Yorkshire
16	Hot Pink Halo
17	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
18	Ominous Ride

Travis's reviews are coming soon!

ST26 R3 Reviews - Micah Sommersmith

This batch of songs took a little while to grow on me; I think they suffered at first in comparison to Round 2, in which the melisma challenge was basically a cheat code for catchy melodies. But once I got past that, the brilliance of these songs started revealing themselves to me. I don’t have any rankings to justify, so instead my reviews are attempts to pull out some of the most distinctive features of each song, and in some cases, to generalize them into some basic principles of good songwriting. So I invite you to read the reviews of your fellow contestants’ songs; there might be something there for you to chew on too. Read on for my reviews!

SpinTunes 26 Final Round Challenge

We have reached the Final Round of SpinTunes 26. The winner of this round, as decided by the SpinTunes 26 contestants themselves, will earn the title of Champion. But to do that they need to write and record one more song. Read on for the Final Round challenge!

SpinTunes 26 Round 3 Album

If you missed last night's Round 3 Listening Party, never fear. The whole Round 3 album, including 18 competing entries and 5 shadows, is now available to download or stream on Bandcamp or embedded below. Matt Schubbe once again provides our cover art. Thank you, Matt!

ST26 Round 3 Listening Party and Deadline News

The Round 3 deadline now has passed;

I've gathered up the batch.

The sea of talent's awful vast,

With lovely tunes to match.

Two openings were found today

That shadows get to fill:

Now David Taro's back in play,

And Om'nous Ride as well!

If you're agog for melody

(And I know I sure am!),

Then join tonight with Tommy G

at 10 o'clock PM.

The List'ning Party's where you'll hear

These twenty-three new tunes

To join the fun, you just click here.

I'll see you all real soon!

ST26 Round 2 Results

Wow, people. What a round. Every song had its strengths, and with a batch of songs this good, the judges each had to decide for themselves what put one song above another. You'll see that in the variations in your final scores.

However, exactly one song earned top-ten rankings from all five judges, which put it easily in the number one spot, and earned its artist his ninth SpinTunes round victory, meaning he now gets the record for most wins all to himself (sorry, Edric!). Congratulations to Sober, whose song "I'll Try Again" wins him first place in Round 2!

Cheslain's "Apostasy" comes in second place, while Ironbark takes third with "Don't Get Behind Me".

Read on for the full Round 2 results and links to judges' reviews!

ST26 R2 Rankings - Travis Norris

Here are your Round 2 rankings from SpinTunes 5 and SpinTunes 25 Champion Travis Norris:

1	Best Dad In Yorkshire
2	Stefan Szabo
3	miscellaneous owl
4	Sober
5	Sunflower Bastard
6	Cheslain
7	Ironbark
8	Nathan Joe Long
9	Star Bear
10	Carrie Spillane
11	Brother Baker
12	West of Vine
13	Stacking Theory
14	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
15	Flintsteel
16	The Moon Bureau
17	Vom Vorton
18	Berkeley Social Scene
19	Hot Pink Halo
20	traumadolls
21	David Taro
22	Huge Shark
23	the profane bells
24	Ominous Ride
25	Jealous Brother
26	Cosmic Ray Corruption
27	Pigfarmer Jr
28	The Pannacotta Army
29	Paul Dermody
30	The Dreams Corporation
31	chewmeupspitmeout

Travis's reviews are coming soon!

ST26 R2 Reviews and Rankings - Beka Gurney

Here are your Round 2 rankings from SpinTunes 25 Champion Beka Gurney:

1	Stefan Szabo
2	David Taro
3	Best Dad In Yorkshire
4	Carrie Spillane
5	miscellaneous owl
6	Brother Baker
7	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
8	Sober
9	Jealous Brother
10	West of Vine
11	Nathan Joe Long
12	Ironbark
13	Hot Pink Halo
14	Sunflower Bastard
15	Stacking Theory
16	Ominous Ride
17	The Pannacotta Army
18	Flintsteel
19	Berkeley Social Scene
20	chewmeupspitmeout
21	The Moon Bureau
22	Cheslain
23	Huge Shark
24	Pigfarmer Jr
25	traumadolls
26	Vom Vorton
27	Star Bear
28	the profane bells
29	Cosmic Ray Corruption
30	Paul Dermody
31	The Dreams Corporation

Read on for Beka's reviews!

ST26 R2 Reviews and Rankings - Ian Blaylock

Here are your Round 2 rankings from Ian Blaylock:

1	Sober
2	Cheslain
3	chewmeupspitmeout
4	Ironbark
5	The Moon Bureau
6	traumadolls
7	miscellaneous owl
8	Flintsteel
9	Brother Baker
10	Sunflower Bastard
11	Nathan Joe Long
12	Stacking Theory
13	The Dreams Corporation
14	Carrie Spillane
15	Star Bear
16	West of Vine
17	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
18	Cosmic Ray Corruption
19	Berkeley Social Scene
20	Hot Pink Halo
21	Ominous Ride
22	The Pannacotta Army
23	Stefan Szabo
24	the profane bells
25	Vom Vorton
26	Huge Shark
27	Jealous Brother
28	David Taro
29	Best Dad In Yorkshire
30	Paul Dermody
31	Pigfarmer Jr

Read on for Ian's reviews!

ST26 R2 Reviews and Rankings - Mo

Here are your Round 2 rankings from Mo:

1	traumadolls
2	Cheslain
3	Ironbark
4	The Pannacotta Army
5	Sober
6	Sunflower Bastard
7	Stefan Szabo
8	Carrie Spillane
9	Flintsteel
10	miscellaneous owl
11	Best Dad In Yorkshire
12	Hot Pink Halo
13	The Dreams Corporation
14	Jealous Brother
15	The Moon Bureau
16	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
17	Nathan Joe Long
18	chewmeupspitmeout
19	Huge Shark
20	West of Vine
21	Cosmic Ray Corruption
22	Stacking Theory
23	Berkeley Social Scene
24	David Taro
25	Vom Vorton
26	Ominous Ride
27	Brother Baker
28	Paul Dermody
29	the profane bells
30	Star Bear
31	Pigfarmer Jr

Read on for Mo's reviews!

ST26 R2 Reviews and Rankings - Paul R. Potts

Here are your Round 2 rankings from Paul R. Potts:

1	Cheslain
2	Sober
3	Stacking Theory
4	Sunflower Bastard
5	Stefan Szabo
6	traumadolls
7	Best Dad In Yorkshire
8	The Pannacotta Army
9	Ironbark
10	Jennifer Lynne and the Dandelion Rebellion
11	Pigfarmer Jr
12	Star Bear
13	Nathan Joe Long
14	West of Vine
15	Hot Pink Halo
16	Carrie Spillane
17	Ominous Ride
18	Huge Shark
19	Jealous Brother
20	Flintsteel
21	chewmeupspitmeout
22	The Moon Bureau
23	Vom Vorton
24	miscellaneous owl
25	Brother Baker
26	Berkeley Social Scene
27	David Taro
28	Cosmic Ray Corruption
29	Paul Dermody
30	the profane bells
31	The Dreams Corporation

Read on for Paul's reviews!