Basic Info
What’s a Walrus?
A walrus is an event where a judge posts a list of categories. Entrants may then submit a song they feel is both good and appropriate for the category. The judge then listens to all of the songs from within each category and subjectively ranks them from worst to best, and reveals how everyone did.
Why’s a Walrus?
The term comes from the twoplustwo forums, where they were originally referred to as Trololollapaloozas. Walrus as a name may not make much sense, but at least it’s an upgrade?
How do I participate?
Just choose songs that you think are good and fit each category, and follow the directions below to submit them. Then, when each category has been scored, you can listen along to the reveals on Discord!
How does scoring work?
The place your submission to a given category is placed will be the number of points you get from that category - 1st place will get 1 point, 10th place will get 10 points, and so on. Overall scoring will operate on a drop-one system - each player’s worst category will not be counted towards their final score, and the rest of their scores will be averaged. (This means you can also skip a category without direct penalty). The player with the lowest average points at the end is the winner!
How can I maximize my score?
Although this is a purely subjective event rather than a hyper-competitive one, scoring will be done to help encourage people to submit music the host likes. As such, the host will generally score songs they like but have never heard before over songs they have heard, and songs they listen to all the time may score relatively poorly despite being good. You don’t have to go way out on a limb, but try to avoid obvious tracks the host will surely know!
Can I submit multiple times?
Yes, although you must make an entire slate of submissions at one time - ie, if you submit two songs to each category, you must make one submission as a group of ten and another submission as a separate group of ten. The scores for these submissions will be independent - rather than awarding you the point value of whichever submission scored lowest in a given category, each submission’s total will be calculated separately.
Attempts to abuse this system by spamming low-quality submissions will result in all of your submissions being thrown out.
Are there any other restrictions on submissions?
Submitting a song that is overly long will make it hard for the judge to adequately assess it - if you’re going to go well beyond a reasonable length with any song, please do so sparingly! If the host ends up skipping your song, it’s going to do poorly and nobody will have gained anything from your submission. Also, if a host has given any example tracks, don’t submit an example track right back at them. Similarly, don’t submit the same song multiple times within or across submissions.
Can I tell people what I subbed?
Anybody but me - in order to ensure a fair playing field, I will intentionally not know who subbed all of the songs I’m scoring. To maintain this, please do not discuss your subs publicly, or anywhere I might see them. If you would like to, in private, ensure you and another person do not submit the same song, that’s fine, but do no more than that please!
My Info
What do I like?
Pretty much anything except modern “country” and modern pop/hip-hop has a chance of working for me. I tend to favor rock and alternative music in general, but that also means I’m the most familiar with it. Electronic music can be hit-or-miss, as can rap, but if you give me a good one in those categories it will do really well. Instrumental pieces (such as classical, jazz, soundtracks, etc) are also fair game.
What should I not submit?
I have no strict bans, but if I listen to it every day or it’s super commonly known it may not score as highly as something I haven’t heard. To aid in this, I will link this Spotify playlist with a bunch of stuff I have heard - if you want to search through it (via the search button in the desktop app or via scrolling down the alphabetical list in browser) to see if your song is already there, be my guest. You will not be dinged for skipping this - I’m not going to intentionally score songs I don’t like as much very far above songs I like more regardless of novelty. However, if I like two songs about the same but one is new to me, it’ll do better.
So I should read that whole playlist before deciding what to submit?
No! Just because something isn’t on that list doesn’t mean I won’t like it, and just because a band is on that list DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE HEARD ALL OF THEIR SONGS. I don’t tend to listen to everything by a single artist almost ever, so even if I have a lot of their songs on there it’s possible I haven’t heard the one you want to submit, and I might love it! I strongly recommend you use this list only to check submissions for exact matches, rather than to inform them.
What other pointers can you give me?
I was one of the judges in FoLrus - you can see what I scored highly, what I didn’t like, and read my thoughts on each song submitted to my Wildcard category here.
How will you be listening to the submissions?
I will endeavor to listen to each song at least once, ideally the initial time, in the best setting I possibly can. This will be a pair of Sennheiser HD 600 open-back headphones connected to a Schiit Hel 2e DAC/Amp, and where possible will utilize a high-bitrate streaming service such as Amazon Music (which is complete garbage you should not pay for, but does have really good audio quality). However, I’ll also probably listen to these things while going about my day, and so they are also likely to get playtime from my phone off of YouTube using my 1MORE Quad Driver earbuds, or potentially even my basic-trim-level stock car speakers.
Where will the reveals be hosted?
Reveals will be hosted either in the Breadbox Discord or in the MU Discord. Exact location may vary from category to category, keep an eye out.
Category Info
1. Homeworkout
Description - As a student, I’m often working late into the night while studying, and I like to have background music that isn’t too intense on while I do. Send me a song you think would be a good fit for late-night studying - but save the “desperately trying to keep yourself awake at 5am through sheer noise” tracks for a different category.
Example Tracks:
insaneintherainmusic - Rain
Ghost Data - Stars Beneath the Ocean
Sewerslvt - goodbye
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Denmark / Van Gogh & Gone
Karen Ashbrook - Good Morning To Your Nightcap / Behind The Haystack
Results:
2. War Never Changes
Description - Older songs that sound like they would appear in a Fallout game’s main radio station - generally, this will be music recorded from the 1920s through the 1960s, although songs outside of this date range are allowed provided they still capture the same feel. If you’ve never played a modern Fallout game, skimming this YouTube playlist or other Fallout playlists and the example tracks should zero you in pretty quickly. Just don’t submit any songs actually used in a Fallout game.
Example Tracks:
Dion - Runaround Sue
Buffalo Springfield - For What It’s Worth
Frank Sinatra - In Other Words
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Crosby, Stills and Nash - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Results:
3. Soundtracks
Description - I’ve sometimes gotten into new games or shows because of their soundtracks. Advertise to me! Just be aware that the heavily emotional piece that plays during the saddest part of the thing probably won’t hit quite as hard without that context.
Example Tracks:
Made in Abyss - Tomorrow
Guilty Gear Strive - Love the Subhuman Self
Re:Zero - Takt of Heroes -Origin-
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Red Sun
Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Sis Puella Magica!
Results:
4. Live It Up
Description - Live versions of songs that are better than the original.
Example Tracks:
Lindsey Buckingham - Big Love
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry
Bob Seger - Turn The Page
Peter, Paul, & Mary - River of Jordan
Results:
5. King For a Day
Description - Only the highest-quality video game rips allowed. Send in some catchy, hopefully-unironically-good internet mashups (do not have to be specifically video-game related). Now that’s a pretty meme. Exquisite!
Example Tracks:
Luigi’s Mansion - Professor E Gadd
Sucker is a new and original song which doesn’t plagiarize at all
““sweet dreams but i put kahoot music over it” but I fixed the tempo” but I added Joker’s gun
smol psy’s smolventures
This is (not) the greatest song in the world.
Results:
6. Homegrown Talent
Description - Songs from local bands - smaller is better. If everybody else has heard of them, it’s probably not going to score well even if they’re literally your neighbors.
Example Tracks:
Figures on a Beach - Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria)
Mustard’s Retreat - Simple Faith
Smoky Robinson & the Miracles - The Tears of a Clown
Rhythm Corps - Satellites
Finvarra’s Wren - The New Mown Meadows / The Monaghan Twig / The Ivy Leaf
7. Fusion Collab
Description - Songs worked on by a number of different people, all of whom are awesome. I don’t need to have heard of any of these people personally, but it should be the case that you can clearly see the influence of the people involved, whether that be through singing, composition, or something else entirely.
Example Tracks:
The Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line
Animator Dormitory - Back To You
Queen - Under Pressure
Revo & Yuki Kajiura - sand dream
Michael Jackson - The Girl Is Mine
8. Comedy Sketch
Description - Give me a song that is designed to be funny! Although I will allow direct parodies, internet-like “meme” songs/mashups should be submitted to the King For A Day category, not this one.
Example Tracks:
The Corries - The Bricklayer’s Song
Trevor Moore - Kitty History
Weird Al Yankovic - Don’t Download This Song
Tim Hawkins - Kids Rock
Arlo Guthrie - Alice’s Restaurant Massacree
9. The Great Pretender
Description - Covers or remixes of songs that are incredible in their own right or perhaps even surpass the original version.
Example Tracks:
Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Peter, Paul, & Mary - The Times They Are A-Changin’
Linkin Park - A Light That Never Comes (Rick Rubin Reboot)
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow
10. Headbanger
Description - Shoji Meguro has the best guitars. Give me the song with the second-best guitars.
Example Tracks:
FamilyJules7x & SoulEye - Prelude
Shoji Meguro - Unavoidable Battle
Ghost - Rats
Daft Punk - Digital Love
the pillows - ONE LIFE
How To Submit
Send @orangeandblack5 a PM on the forums with the topic “Walrus - [username]” and links to each of your ten songs, each placed on their own line. Links should have a backtick (`) in front of and behind the link.
A submission should look like the following:
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsC8jQXRbQE`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Ig3X59_qA`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_b7RDuLwcI`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLzxrzFCyOs`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXMskKTw3Bc`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGlEL8lD8U`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyOqGRjVtls`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paK2q3qDY64`
`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO7bRMa9bmA`
The backticks (`) are very important to include in forum PMs - please do not forget them!
Note that YouTube links are preferred where possible, but I will accept any link or form of submission. Because the goal is to try out my new audio equipment, it is likely that Amazon Music or another high-bitrate streaming source will be used for all of the songs on at least one occasion, but I will also likely listen to things on my phone or in my car at points.
If, for whatever reason, you choose not to submit to a certain category, please leave a blank line for it, and also reply to the PM with another message to confirm which category should be blank. Note that you will get one below the lowest possible score for any category you do not submit to, but this score is eligible to be your dropped score.
For those making multiple submissions, please add the letter whose number corresponds to your submission after your username - for example, if I were to make two submissions, I would call them “orangeandblack5 - A” and “orangeandblack5 - B”. If you originally make one submission but then add another later, it is fine to instead have your submissions named “orangeandblack5” and “orangeandblack5 - B”.
If you do not have an account on the forums, but would still like to participate, you may send a list of the same general format to orangeandblack5#4506 on Discord - however, you will not include the backticks. Instead, after you have posted your submission, please remove all embeds from your submission post by clicking the ‘X’ button on one of the videos that pops up.
All submissions are due by 2023-01-21T04:59:00Z!
Current Submissions
- LordQuas
- Visorslash
- KnightsofCydonia
- Keldi
- mansnicks
- marmot
- Bloobird
- nutella
- Caspore A
- Caspore B
- Caspore C
- Caspore D
- Caspore E
- Caspore F
- Caspore G
- Caspore H
- Caspore I
- Caspore J
- Caspore K
- Caspore L
- Caspore M
- Insanity
- Schiavetto A
- Schiavetto B
- DatBird
- shubaka17
- WindwardAway
- Kane
- nanook
- Wisteria
- Maxi
- BLOODYRAIN10001
- shanethedigital
- Dragonclaude
- Dobby
- Coffee Abuser
- ignoramus
- Daeron
- Mistyx
- Chloe
- ElizaThePsycho
- c4e5g3d5
- MissAmerica
- Squirrel2412
- staypositivefriend
- thepigeonnyc’s family
- Nerbins
- StepGymBro
- Simon A
- Simon B
- lendunistus
- SC_Mirad A
- SC_Mirad B
- clonedcheese
- beancat
- MyNameIsNothing
