ST20.2 Results

An incredibly strong Round 2 is in the books. After tabulating the judges' rankings, we have a winner. Congratulations to Ironbark for taking first place! One point shy of the top spot is Tunes by LJ in second place, and Also In Blue rounds out the podium at third place.

Continue reading for the full results!

ST20.2 Reviews and Rankings - Denise Hudson

Jealous Brother	1
Sober	2
Ironbark	3
Tunes by LJ	4
Daniel Sitler	5
Also In Blue	6
Bubba & TGOTK	7
The Alleviators	8
Cavedwellers	9
Stacking Theory	10
Governing Dynamics	11
Temnere	12
Brother Baker	13
Phlub	14
The Pannacotta Army	15
chewmeupspitmeout	16
Mandibles	17
Balance Lost	18
Jerkatorium	19
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson	20
Yeslessness	21
Hot Pink Halo	22
thanks, brain	23
Single Pint of Failure	24
Jeff Walker	25
TEGFKA Timmy	26
Berni Armstrong	27
Siebass	28
The Popped Hearts	29
James Young	30
Good Niche Gracious	31
Simon Purchase James	32
JW Hanberry	33

Read on for Denise's full reviews.

ST20.2 Reviews and Rankings - Substitute Judge Vom Vorton

See-Man-Ski has found himself unable to serve as a judge for this round, but will be back for Round 3. In the meantime, I am grateful to have secured the services of a substitute: Vom Vorton, a regular participant in Song Fight, Nur Ein, SpinTunes and FAWM both on his own and as a member of the duo Vowl Sounds. I'm especially grateful that he could provide us with fair and thoughtful reviews on short notice. Thank you Vom!

Stacking Theory	1
Daniel Sitler	2
Ironbark	3
Balance Lost	4
Also In Blue	5
Jealous Brother	6
Single Pint of Failure	7
Phlub	8
Temnere	9
Tunes by LJ	10
Yeslessness	11
Siebass	12
Jerkatorium	13
Bubba & TGOTK	14
Governing Dynamics	15
Mandibles	16
The Popped Hearts	17
chewmeupspitmeout	18
The Alleviators	19
Jeff Walker	20
TEGFKA Timmy	21
thanks, brain	22
James Young	23
Hot Pink Halo	24
Simon Purchase James	25
The Pannacotta Army	26
Sober	27
Cavedwellers	28
Brother Baker	29
JW Hanberry	30
Berni Armstrong	31
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson	32
Good Niche Gracious	33

Continue reading for Vom Vorton's full reviews.

ST20.20 Reviews and Rankings - Gray Porter

Ironbark	1
Tunes by LJ	2
Mandibles	3
Daniel Sitler	4
Balance Lost	5
Also In Blue	6
Cavedwellers	7
Single Pint of Failure	8
The Pannacotta Army	9
The Alleviators	10
Brother Baker	11
Siebass	12
Bubba & TGOTK	13
Jerkatorium	14
Jeff Walker	15
Temnere	16
Governing Dynamics	17
thanks, brain	18
Simon Purchase James	19
Phlub	20
Sober	21
Stacking Theory	22
James Young	23
The Popped Hearts	24
Jealous Brother	25
Berni Armstrong	26
TEGFKA Timmy	27
Hot Pink Halo	28
chewmeupspitmeout	29
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson	30
JW Hanberry	31
Yeslessness	32
Good Niche Gracious	33

Read on for Gray's full reviews:

ST20.2 Reviews and Rankings - Ian Moore

Single Pint of Failure	1
The Alleviators	2
Jealous Brother	3
Tunes by LJ	4
Governing Dynamics	5
Bubba & TGOTK	6
Also In Blue	7
Cavedwellers	8
Stacking Theory	9
Temnere	10
Simon Purchase James	11
The Pannacotta Army	12
Ironbark	13
The Popped Hearts	14
Balance Lost	15
Mandibles	16
thanks, brain	17
Brother Baker	18
Yeslessness	19
Siebass	20
JW Hanberry	21
James Young	22
Sober	23
Daniel Sitler	24
Hot Pink Halo	25
TEGFKA Timmy	26
Jerkatorium	27
Jeff Walker	28
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson	29
chewmeupspitmeout	30
Berni Armstrong	31
Phlub	32
Good Niche Gracious	33

Read on for Ian's full reviews.

ST20.2 Reviews and Rankings - Kris

Stacking Theory	1
The Alleviators	2
Jeff Walker	3
Simon Purchase James	4
Brother Baker	5
Bubba & TGOTK	6
James Young	7
Daniel Sitler	8
Ironbark	9
Tunes by LJ	10
Also In Blue	11
Siebass	12
Mandibles	13
Cavedwellers	14
Single Pint of Failure	15
Jealous Brother	16
The Pannacotta Army	17
Phlub	18
Sober	19
Balance Lost	20
Temnere	21
Jerkatorium	22
thanks, brain	23
Berni Armstrong	24
Yeslessness	25
Good Niche Gracious	26
Governing Dynamics	27
chewmeupspitmeout	28
TEGFKA Timmy	29
Hot Pink Halo	30
The Popped Hearts	31
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson	32
JW Hanberry	33

Read on for Kris's full reviews.

SpinTunes 20 Round 3 Challenge

One goal of SpinTunes is to push participants outside of their comfort zones and get them creating something they wouldn't have created otherwise. That goal is implicit in many of the challenges, but this round we're making it explicit. Here's your Round 3 challenge:

Self Improvement: Learn something new. Display your new knowledge or skill in your song. Tell us in your song bio about what you learned.

Some possible examples:   

• A new instrument
• A new vocal or instrumental technique
• A new compositional technique or music theory concept
• New arrangement or production techniques
• Lyrics in a new language
• A new lyrical/poetic form
• New information/subject matter for your lyrics

Submitting Entries:

• Your entry must be received by Sunday, April 16, 2023 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.

• You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry. 

• Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.

• SUBMITTING BY EMAIL: Send your file in a format that BandCamp accepts. (.wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) Do not send MP3s.
• Name your file the song's title + your band name, without punctuation.
• The subject line of the e-mail should identify the challenge and your band's name. Something like this would be fine: "ST20R3 - All the Robots".
• Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail.
• Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collaborated with someone.

• ALTERNATE FILE SHARING OPTIONS: If your file is too big for an email attachment, you may email me a link to where I can download the song. The email still needs to land in my inbox by the deadline.
• If you have a Bandcamp account you can just send me a link to your song if you include all the info I mentioned for emails. Info such as lyrics and song credits can be included in the email or on the song's Bandcamp page. Make sure you have it set as a free download, and have it set so that I don't have to put in an e-mail to download it if you pick this option.
• You may also use a file sharing service such as DropBox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, etc. Include in the email any required information (such as lyrics) that you couldn't include in the file. Make sure I have permission to download the file, and please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.

• SONG BIOS: In addition to lyrics and any necessary credits, you are welcome to include a "song bio", with any information you feel is useful. This could include your inspiration for the song, citations for any obscure references within the lyrics, an explanation of how your song met the challenge, etc. Some challenges may require you to supply certain info in your song bio. Since the judges are volunteers with lives outside of SpinTunes, song bios can help them zero in on aspects of the song you feel are important. However, if your song requires a multi-paragraph explanation in order to understand and appreciate it, this is probably a sign that it doesn't stand up well on its own, and its ranking may reflect that.

Side Notes:

• You can send in an entry to SpinTunes 20 without competing. Just tell me it's a "Shadow Song". It will be played at the listening party, but won't be ranked and you might not receive feedback from the judges. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests. It's a nice way of playing along if you can't commit to the schedule or you just want to get your feet wet.
• The only other way to get your music played at the listening party is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown or "Right Again" by Mandibles.

Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.