Balearica Island makes a wish (NSC 233)

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island is hallucinating (NSC 211)

I wasn't sure what to expect with Dendrometry. I had hopes it would appeal to more people than just me, but I've sent a lot of songs I think are masterpieces that finished in the bottom of the semi, so predicting results is something I've given up on. So seeing the result was a pleasant surprise, making me wonder if I was actually hallucinating. 2nd in the semi, and a 6th place in the final, meaning my next entry will actually be a PQ entry. Thanks to everyone for all the votes.

Also some breaking news, AATW Kosovo has ended. And "Secrets" managed to just get a top 10 result in the end. But with only 15 entries, it does mean it was a rather poor result... Gotta admit, I had hoped for a better result, but that's life. There are ups and downs here.

But on that note, let's move on to NSC 211. I mentioned being torn between two songs in the end for AATW Kosovo. And now that AATW Kosovo has finally ended, I figure this is the time to reveal what the other song was. Because despite the poor result for Regard in AATW, he's also behind my next NSC entry, together with Years & Years on the track "Hallucination", which features a sample from Imany's "Don't Be So Shy". And surprisingly enough, I had somehow never heard "Don't Be So Shy" before. And the Filatov & Karas remix has more than 150 million views! What rock have I been living under? Still tho, I prefer Hallucination:

Given Regard's result in AATW, my hopes here are rather low, but being a PQ entry, this does mean that Regard will at least get a much wider audience. Which could go both ways, of course. Years & Years have some excellent results in NSC tho, "Take Shelter" won, "King" and "Shine" both got on the podiums, and "Worship" came close to a top 10. So will Hallucination follow in those footsteps, and break the curse of my PQ entries? We shall see.

In WLSC 246, the witch house remix of "Nas Ne Dogonyat" got an ok result, but didn't quite make it into the top half. Also, t.A.T.u.'s Lena Katina wasn't able to travel to Norway for the "We Love The 2000's" show, so I didn't get to see her live. Blümchen was also missing due to a pregnancy, Coolio died recently, and Dune and DJ Aligator didn't get to play due to technical difficulties earlier in the show, so there were quite a few artists missing from the lineup. Still, there were a lot of artists left, so it was a pretty good weekend after all.

Anyway, continuing with WLSC, despite having found an entry I really wanted to send, I had to stay out of WLSC 247, as I would be on a holiday for the entire voting period of 247, and with 4 concerts in 6 days, it seemed unlikely that I would be able to vote. But fortunately, the entry I wanted to send wasn't sent by anyone else, so it will be my entry in 248.

The Rasmus' "In The Shadows" has been on my list since I joined WLSC, having originally been sent all the way back in NSC 10 by Begonia, but I've had about 40 different covers and remixes to choose between, and never really managed to narrow it down to just one. Until something especially interesting recently popped up. Because The Rasmus and Kalush Orchestra released a new version of it, mixing in Ukrainian folk, called "In the Shadows of Ukraine". Thanks again to YouTube for pointing me towards it. And this is so great, I couldn't not send it to the WLSC. Слава Україні!

Also, I don't know if anyone else but me actually care about the Balearica Island playlist on YouTube, but I occasionally need to make some changes there. I've had to replace two this week. Little Big's "Polyushko Polye" was deleted, not because they want to distance themselves from anything Russian, but due to a copyright claim. On their own music. Didn't expect that reason tbh. The other one was Paul Van Dyk's "Nothing But You", which is still on YouTube, but it's only available in the US and Canada, according to the YouTube geoblocking map I believe was posted on this forum a while ago. His only song with Norwegian lyrics, and it's not available in Norway... This is one of the reasons I genuinelly hate geo-restrictions, and have absolutely no regrets resorting to VPNs to avoid this crap. But I mostly use that playlist at work, and I can't install a VPN on my work computer, so I found a version of it with poorer quality, and that'll just have to do for now, but it wouldn't shock me if that video is deleted due to copyright claim at some point. I think I might dedicate my next NSC entry to this...

 

[theditz83]

They played that remix of "Don't Be So Shy" when I was in the Maldives - think the bar staff liked its vibe for a beach bar

Awesome entry - such a tune

 

[Ewigkeit]

And surprisingly enough, I had somehow never heard "Don't Be So Shy" before.

Whaaaaaaaaaat well better late than never

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island and the system (NSC 212)

The news are in, my PQ entries are still cursed. Regard is not a hit maker in Natia, not even Years & Years could give him a great result. Hallucination didn't come close to the top 20 result I hoped for, finishing in 26th. Oh well, I'll hopefully get more chances at ending this curse at some point, but I honestly have no idea how to do that.

So as I mentioned in my previous post, geo-restrictions. I hate them. The fact that content on the Internet is restricted to people based on where they're located in the world goes against the whole idea of the Internet imo. I'm still one of the lucky ones, I live in a free country where the government doesn't restrict anything (at least that I know of), so I know I shouldn't complain about this. But there's one more thing that annoys me (which is also a first world problem). I'm a big fan of several sports, and I live in a country where people apparently don't mind paying loads to watch live sports online. But I do. I realize that not everything is free, and that's fine, but there's a limit to how much I feel certain things are worth, and the actual cost is often higher than that. So I do what I can to minimize the cost.

As a Manchester United fan, I obviously have an interest in the Premier League, but so do a lot of other people in Norway. English football appears to be more popular than Norwegian football, and that makes the networks pay a ridiculous amount of money to get the rights to broadcast, and the viewers are the ones who has to pay for this. And despite a lot of online complaining about the prices, it seems like enough people are willing to pay for it to make it worth it for the networks. Viaplay took over the Premier League rights from TV2 this season, and altho it's a tiny bit cheaper now, it's still way too expensive. It's about twice as expensive as the maximum I think it should cost.

Norwegian football has been on Discovery+ for some years, but TV2 takes over from the 2023 season, and they're gonna be about twice as expensive as D+ used to be, and even tho it's nowhere near the price they charged for Premier League, it's still too expensive. Unfortunately, I don't really have a choice here. While free streams for the Premier League aren't that hard to find if you know where to look, Norwegian football has no interest outside of Norway, which means the matches are a lot harder to find on the more alternative sites. As previously mentioned, I follow two teams in Norway, Kristiansund and Vålerenga (Kristiansund was relegated this season, but TV2 has the rights to both the top 2 leagues), and altho they might be featured in the few televised matches every week, the only way I can make sure to watch all of their matches, is to pay TV2 what they want.

Winter sports is another thing Norwegians (and me) are crazy about. Which anyone who's watched the Winter Olympics can probably understand. For me, as someone who seriously dislikes the winter, the winter sports season is what gets me thru the winter. Previously, Eurosport and NRK shared the rights to all winter sports, and altho NRK is free, I still paid for Eurosport Player for many years, as they had better coverage (NRK broadcasted most of it, but Eurosport gave me EVERYTHING), and the price wasn't that bad. But then FIS started selling rights packages, so TV2 got the rights to the events held in Switzerland and Austria. And now, Viaplay has the rights to nearly everything else, I think only the events held in Norway are now available on NRK and Discovery+. Biathlon is still on NRK tho, as that's not an FIS sport.

So here's a list of the MONTHLY prices I'd have to deal with (in Euros):
Premier League (Viaplay Total): €61
Norwegian football/Champions League (TV2 Play Total): €38
Europa League/Conference League (Viaplay Medium): €33
Winter sports (Viaplay Medium): €33 (€55 if I add the TV2 Play Family package for the Swiss/Austrian events as well, but that's also included in TV2 Play Total)

If these were annual prices, then sure, I'd go along with all of it, but monthly? No f-ing way. I'm actually ok with having to pay to watch something, but I'm not ok being ripped off, and that is exactly what I feel the Norwegian broadcasters are doing. So I'm resorting to online streams to watch United, but I will have to pay for TV2 Play to watch Kristiansund and Vålerenga, and the winter sports... Well, the TV coverage sucks, because ads seems to be more important than showing the actual events, so I need an online package for this, but I've found a way that's cheaper than Viaplay, and a lot cheaper than the Viaplay/TV2 combination, but it took quite a bit of frustration before I eventually found a solution that worked, and I couldn't have done it without the help of another member of this forum.

And then of course there's the whole chapter of streaming services having different selection based on which country the customers live in. YouTube in Germany comes to mind, but I know Netflix and others have different catalogues for different countries as well. F*** that.

And this all brings me to my next NSC entry (longest intro ever, I know). The song is called "FTS" (short for F*** The System) by Showtek, released in 2007. It's really a declaration of love to hardstyle, a genre that used to be more underground than it is today, and it's also one of the greatest hardstyle tracks of all time (#3 on a list Wildstylez and Noisecontrollers made for Billboard.com in 2016, #6 on a 2020 list on Q-Dance.com), but it's also pretty fitting on how I feel about the system at times. As they say in the song, "I think the whole system f***ing sucks". Well, parts of it at least. Expecting a bottom 5 result in the semi with this entry tho.

Also, just a couple of days after my previous post, I discovered more unavailable videos on my playlist. Freddy Kalas' "Hey Ho" was another georestricted video. I was on a UK VPN at the time (due to alpine skiing I had watched earlier that day), and despite YouTube not showing any messages about the video being blocked in "my" country, the geo-restrictions map showed that it's only available in Norway and Sweden. And it doesn't really make any sense. I can't imagine this is a popular song outside of Scandinavia, why bother blocking it for the rest of the world? Then I found another one missing, Phillip Rushton - Liar (Glass Twins Radio Cut), one of my more recent entries. This one was made private, and I suspect it might be because it's been reuploaded on a different channel, so I replaced that one. I've kept Freddy Kalas tho, because I don't think anyone else uses the playlist, but if I'm wrong, let me know, and I'll replace that one as well.

Ok then, on to something slightly more cheerful, WLSC.

The result for "In The Shadows Of Ukraine" was a lot better than I dared to hope for, bringing me my first win in WLSC. My 4th win ever in the NSC universe, following NSC 127 and 130, and The Alphabest spinoff. Also my first winner without female vocals. Thanks to everyone who voted for it, and again: Слава Україні!

This means that WLSC 249 is now hosted on , and as I decided to do a beach party theme, my entry is Forever Lost's "Samba Tool" of Bellini - Samba De Janeiro, originally sent by Astique in NSC 24. After featuring both Da Tweekaz and Refuzion earlier, I figured it was time to unleash another Norwegian hardstyle act to the world of NSC, and Forever Lost has made several cool songs, so they deserve a chance to shine, even tho I don't have high expectations for this entry in WLSC. Hoping to not finish last.

There are also a couple of other Norwegian hardstyle acts causing some international waves these days, but Serzo is one of those who thinks "heeeey hoooo" is really cool (I don't), and Matzic makes a type of hardstyle I really don't like, so it's unlikely that they will ever represent , but who knows what the future holds.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island lights a spark (NSC 213)

No big shock when it comes to the result of FTS, altho finishing last was a little bit disappointing, as I thought the vocal part of it would appeal to more people.

I haven't had much success with psytrance either in NSC, but it's still a genre I am deeply in love with, so you're just gonna have to deal with another psy entry from . Altho, this is actually progressive trance, so it's not technically psytrance, but the way I hear it, progressive trance like this is closer to psy than it is to regular trance. I've tried to read up on this, because there's progressive house, progressive trance, trance, psytrance, and progressive psytrance, and they're all different subgenres of EDM, and there are plenty of different opinions on what the differences between the genres are. Anyway, whatever it is, I like it. While hardstyle in the last 3 years or so has gone a direction I dislike, (psy)trance never disappoints. I have had some luck with female singers in this contest tho. And female vocals aren't that common in psytrance, at least not from what I've heard. It's often either male vocals or instrumental. Or maybe I've just been too lost in the music to notice, it can happen with psytrance. But either way, one track in a recent liveset by Marita Steinsvik caught my ear. Tophoo & Total Balance feat. Liz Ivy - Light A Spark, an all German entry. Liz Ivy is usually, according to what I've found on Google, an alternative rock singer in the band Max Roxton & The Ties, but her voice definitely works in electronic music as well.

My other competing hardstyle entry from the previous update, Forever Lost's remix of Samba De Janeiro in the hosted WLSC 249, actually got a better result than I expected. 13th wasn't too bad, even if it meant bottom half, but it was a better result than FTS got in the main contest.

For WLSC 250, I pretty quickly decided to send a cover/remix of Spila's NSC 20 entry Alizée - Moi... Lolita, and initially, I only had one remix on my list, so it should have been an easy choice. But I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing out on something epic, and found around 40 alternatives. Many of them were great, but I managed to narrow down to 5 versions. Prauze's Schranz edit of Alizée, Addicted Craze's hands-up remix of Lolita Jolie's cover version, Cornelius Brause's hard trance remix of Spacekid's cover version (with Finnish singer Inga Auhagen on the vocals), a recent cover released earlier this year by Micast, Steve Modana and LIZEA, and a 2021 cover by former WLSC winners Parade of Planets from Belarus (links to all except the one I picked are text provided). But in the end, I did actually go for that one remix that was on my list in the beginning, because I really want to send something Schranz to WLSC. Schranz is a form of hard techno. I usually don't like techno when I'm clubbing, because it gets too monotunous, and it's usually too slow for me. Hard techno is however a bit different. It can also get monotunous, but the tempo is much better, the bass is harder, and I enjoy it a lot more, and that makes a huge difference for me. So, my entry for WLSC 250 was Alizée - Moi, Lolita (Prauze Edit):

The result could have been better tho, but I never expected hard techno to be a crowd-pleaser on this forum. So, for WLSC 251, I'm gonna take you back in time, in many ways. In WLSC 243, I sent Rob Mayth's cover of Barbie Girl. But that was not Rob Mayth's NSC debut. His debut came all the way back in NSC 52, when the extremely short-lived (but very awesome) nation of Euro sent "Heart To Heart" as their second ever entry, failed to vote in the semi (where they otherwise would have qualified from), and disappeared from NSC. A great entry, a 2008 cover of a 1985 song by Paso Doble, called "Herz an Herz". Rob Mayth made both an English and a German version of it tho, and so did Blümchen (aka Blossom for her English releases), back in 1995/1996. You get where this is going. So my entry for WLSC 251 is Blümchen's breakthrough hit single, "Herz An Herz":

Yeah, going oldschool this time.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island grows wings (NSC 214)

Not much to say about the result for "Light A Spark" tbh. I still think it's a great song.

It's not a secret that I struggle with folk music, and this includes Norwegian folk music too. I generally need bass and/or tempo, and folk music usually involves neither. Folk metal is an exception tho, and so is modern Eastern European folk music, and I think adding folk elements to other genres can be awesome. So when sends folk music, it's obviously going to be with a twist. So what happens when we mix up hardpsy and Siberian indigenous folk pop? Well, let's find out:

That's what happens. Neither of these artists are strangers to the NSC. French hardtek/frenchcore/hardpsy producer Billx represented Biflovatia in NSC 156, while Otyken from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia has represented both Pyreica and Luzinia in 206 and 207. Neither with huge success. I don't think this entry is going to change that, but this is a mix of genres I want to add to the history. Also, this track is actually an official production and not just a bootleg remix, just like Da Tweekaz and Oesch's Die Dritten in NSC 199, and it was also posted on Otyken's Facebook page. I think Otyken even made some new footage to go with this video. The hardstyle/yodel collaboration in 199 got a surprisingly great result, can indigenous hardpsy follow up on that?

In the WLSC, Blümchen's result wasn't quite what I hoped for either, but I still think it's a classic. My next WLSC entry is going to be a remix of an entry that actually got my 12 points, because it's awesome. New Acadia's NSC 83 entry, "Internet Friends" by Knife Party. Life on the Internet is pretty harsh. But there is a remix of it, that takes it a couple of steps further. The Organ Donors Psycho Bitch Re-Work, which could also be seen as a nod to my NSC 70 entry. The Organ Donors have flown the flag for twice in the NSC, in NSC 86 and NSC 186, so maybe I should have held onto this until WLSC 286, but I won't, it's time to unleash this. And, Knife Party have also represented once, as the duo is part of Pendulum, who were the remixers of my NSC 102 entry.

Be careful who you block on Facebook. I find this hilarious tbh. The Organ Donors aren't the only ones to make a remix of this tho, Billx is also among others who did the same, but I haven't heard anyone I like as much as Organ Donors' remix. Kova & Konaefiz made a remake that comes close tho, and they even made a video of it. Expecting another poor result with this tbh, but I'm still not really in this for the results anyway.

 

[nofuxCZ]

Great to see Billx in NSC again perfect timing, gonna see him live next month, can't wait!

 

[Morty]

Great to see Billx in NSC again perfect timing, gonna see him live next month, can't wait!

That sounds awesome! I've never seen him live, he's been suggested on the party cruises from Stockholm a few times, but he's apparently rather expensive to book, but I also hope to see him at some point. Enjoy the show!

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island on a good day (NSC 215)

So the question was, could indigenous hardpsy follow up on hardstyle yodeling? The answer was a shocking and overwhelming "yes!". Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that Billx and Otyken's rave version of "My Wing" would WIN the NSC. 10 of the 27 who gave points to it gave , it was my second best points score ever after Tom's Diner, and only twice before has more nations voted for a entry (Crystallize had 30 voters, Tom's Diner had 28). This is up there with the absolute elite, and I was happy just to have qualified to the final. Even tho it has now been a few days since it was announced the winner, I still struggle to believe that this actually happened. Absolutely incredible.

An interesting funfact, all my 5 winners have been collaborations: S3RL and Lexi (NSC 127), Giorgio Moroder and Britney Spears (NSC 130), Roman Messer and Cari (The Alphabest Spinoff), Kalush Orchestra and The Rasmus (WLSC 248), and now Billx and Otyken (NSC 215).

This of course means that my next entry will have the privilege of being a PQ entry. And as mentioned before, my PQ entries have struggled in NSC. My best result is 21st in NSC 159, and it would be awesome to finally get a top 20 result with a PQ entry. But, I'm not convinced this is how I'm going to achieve that. Because I've realized something. I sent vocal trance as PQ entries in both NSC 71 and NSC 143. NSC 143 was 72 editions after NSC 71. Which edition is 72 editions after NSC 143? Yup, NSC 215. And that means I clearly need to send vocal trance again, because #sign.

And with the genre decided, it's actually a fairly easy choice. Above & Beyond pres. OceanLab - On A Good Day:

Prediction? Well, this is another collaboration (OceanLab = Above & Beyond + Justine Suissa), but I finished 24th in NSC 71, and 26th in NSC 143, so this has 28th written all over it. Those entries were also collaborations. I'll be happy with anything above 21st tho. 15th would be the perfect result, as it's one of the few positions I haven't achieved yet, but so is 22nd and 29th, so should the top 20 goal fail, then 22nd or 29th will be acceptable too.

In the WLSC, it's been business as usual. The Organ Donors Re-Work of "Internet Friends" finished in the bottom 3 of WLSC 252. My next entry was a hardstyle remix of Saint Joe & Southgulfia's NSC 10 entry, Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)". It was made by "Team Blue", a collaboration between Da Tweekaz, Code Black, and Adrenalize for the Blue stage of Hard Bass 2017, and it got a slightly better result, finishing in 17th, which was actually better than I expected.

And it sounded a bit like this:

For WLSC 254, I'm turning towards a former NSC winner again, Astoria's NSC 8 entry "Behind These Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson. The original plan was to send a donk house cover of it, but then I discovered a hard trance remix by Unreal Booty Babes, and it turned out to be a rather easy choice.

There is one minor problem tho. Up until now, I've known the nationalities of every single artist. And first, I thought "Unreal Booty Babes" was just an alias for the German duo "The Real Booty Babes". Turns out, it's not. Unreal Booty Babes made bootleg remixes in the mid 2000s, before social media, and there's very little information out there about this producer. But after a bit of googling, and diving into various EDM forums from Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland, I found out that he might also be called "DJ Phil" or "Phils Booty"/"Phil Booty", and there are a few mentions on a couple of Austrian forums from 2005, so I think he's Austrian. At least that's what I'm going with, but I'm not 100% sure about this. I doubt anyone other than me cares tho.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island bans pineapple on pizza (NSC 216)

So the target was to reach a top 20 with a PQ entry, and that turned out to be a complete failure. "On A Good Day" finished last, and by a decent margin. But, since me and all the other PQs from 214 declined hosting (which for me was the right decision, regardless of the result), and Ugaly stepping in as the host and making it a 29 entry final, that means I have managed to gain access to the exclusive 29th Place Club, so I'm actually really happy about the result. Now I only need a 15th and a 22nd place in the finals, and a 27th place in a semi, and I would have successfully managed to get every possible result (except 30th, but let's not push this into unrealistic territories).

I haven't sent anything close to rock/metal since Eskimo Callboy (now Electric Callboy, as they've changed their name) in NSC 197, so this is really way overdue. But the timing is pretty perfect, as I saw Electric Callboy live very recently. Because this is actually related to them, as Nico Sallach is a featured artist. It's a song by Samurai Pizza Cats. Not the ska/punk/reggae/funk band from New York that pops up if you try to google them, but a German metalcore band. The song is called "Pizza Homicide", and is about the topic of pineapple on pizza. And on , this has been settled once and for all, pineapple has no business being even close to a pizza. You'll have to travel somewhere else in Natia for that.

No idea what to expect from this either, might score some points from the metal fans, and those who hate pineapple on pizza, and maybe some who appreciates the humor, but I'm not sure that's gonna be enough to qualify to the final. But we'll see.

Hard trance in WLSC wasn't much different from vocal trance in NSC, the remix of "Behind These Hazel Eyes" lost out on a last place by a tie-breaker (or would have, if T&D had voted), but I kinda expected something like that tbh. For WLSC 255, I've decided to go with a remix of Flora's NSC 80 entry, which happened to get my , but finished 11th in the semi. Example - Changed The Way You Kiss Me. I've found a bunch of remixes of it (as usual), and I've decided on a remix from a rather unknown Israeli producer called Tomboyz, and there isn't actually that much left from the original in this. And after listening to 25 remixes of it, that worked in Tomboyz' favor.

Hoping to avoid the bottom 5 with this, but keeping my expectations low.

 

[Rmetr0]

You'll have to travel somewhere else in Natia for that.

welcomes you all – you can have anything you want on your pizza in our country!

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island - Here we go again (NSC 217)

I'm a bit late with this update, and there's a lot to update this time, so we start with NSC.

"Pizza Homicide" didn't get a very good result in NSC 216, finishing in 18th in the semi, but when the reju scores were added, it was a decent amount of points at least. For NSC 217, I've picked a new song by Oliver Tree and David Guetta, which sounds like it could have been made in the early 2000's, and I think "Here We Go Again" is awesome. And I like the video as well. Both of them are known to NSC from before, Oliver Tree represented Halito in NSC 165, while this is David Guetta's 16th appearance in this contest. His results have been all over the place, from low semi scores to a couple of 2nd places, so we'll see where this ends up in the end, but I doubt it's going to the final. Hope I'm wrong tho.

Spinoffs next, as I joined the 14th edition of ESC National Finals. Last year, I went thru every single NF in the ESC pre-season (except the Swedish one), and even tho there were many great songs across Europe, there was one from the Danish Melodi Grand Prix that really stood out. Fuld Effekt's "Rave Med De Hårde Drenge":

I didn't really expect much with this tho, so to grab a 6th place in the end was pretty great. A shame it didn't win the DMGP, would have been an amazing ESC entry imo. And it would have been so epic to have the line "fuck hiphop, jumpstyle er tilbage" in ESC. Would probably have been censored a bit tho.

In the WLSC, editions have come and gone. In 255, the Tomboyz remix of "Changed The Way You Kiss Me" finished pretty low, finishing 15th. For WLSC 256, I didn't really have time to properly go thru all the versions of Woodkid's NSC 84 winner "Run Boy Run" for Bacchus, so I figured this was a good opportunity to finally send psytrance to WLSC, and went with 7rypta and Tophoo's remix. Apart from the (still) shocking NSC win by Billx and Otyken (which was hardpsy, not psytrance, which just makes it even more shocking), my psy results here have been poor. Both in NSC and the spinoffs. And altho I hoped WLSC would treat it different, I wasn't shocked to see another poor result. 19th.

For WLSC 257, I've picked something amazing. The amazing Inna represented Sunland in NSC 51 with the amazing 2010 hit "Amazing". There were also a bunch of remixes released, including an absolutely amazing one by Buzz Junkies. Ok, enough with the "amazing" puns, but in all seriousness, that is exactly what I think this remix is:

I often send songs that I think should score loads of points, because I think they're... well, amazing, but very often, the end results don't match that. Whether this will remains to be seen, but I'm going to be optimistic for a change, and hope for a top 10 finish.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island goes Sámi (NSC 218)

Almost exactly the same result for Oliver Tree and David Guetta as I got with Samurai Pizza Cats in 216. One point less, and one position lower.

For 218, I've decided to send a Sámi tune for the first time. And of course it's a cover. In 1994, Máret Tornensis finished 3rd in the Sámi Grand Prix with the song "Dál buot čuovggat leat čuvggodan". The Sami Grand Prix still exists, and in the recent years, they've had something called "SGP Cover", where young Sámi artists make new cover versions of old songs and joiks that have appeared on the show, and they invited Lena Thuri to be part of it. Lena is Máret's daughter, and she's made a huge change to the song. It was originally a sad song Máret made when her mom got sick, but Lena has turned it into a proper party track, with the help of Elina Ijäs and Sárá Nilut on the vocals.

I discovered "Dál buot čuovggat leat čuvggodan" on NRK mP3, a radio station I listen to when I work with my comics collection (and also at work sometimes), and it's actually not the only Sámi song getting played there. Aili - Duostil (Brave) was also part of Sámi Grand Prix this year (and it's not a cover), and could very well be a future NSC entry for . The relationship between the Sámi people and Norway hasn't been the greatest over the generations, and the way they've been treated has been a rather dark chapter in Norway's history. Between 1850 and 1980 it was official policy to make the Sámi people Norwegian, and erase the Sámi culture. The Norwegian King publicly apologized for this in 1997, but it's going to take a long time to undo the damage that was done.

In the WLSC, Inna and Buzz Junkies didn't get the amazing result I was hoping for, and finished 13th. So for WLSC 258 I'm going a completely different way. Adamsburg sent the big Rednex hit "Cotton Eye Joe" in NSC 13, scoring an 11th place, and there's not a shortage of alternative versions of this. I was going to go deep into the YouTube hole to find the best one, but rather early in my search, I found something that was simply too epic to pass on. Little V's metal cover:

Yeehaw.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island is giving it (NSC 219)

Dál Buot Čuovggat Leat Čuvggodan finished last, but it was in the final, and not in the semi, so it could obviously have been a worse result. Happy to be in another final, and has actually been in surprisingly many finals lately (13 of the last 25).

We'll see if that can continue with this next entry. Once again, it's a song I've picked up from NRK mP3. In 2021, French producer Matt Sassari made a rework of Timbaland, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake's 2007 Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit "Give It To Me", and it's great. In my opinion, a lot better than the original, but I'm sure there are mixed opinions about that, considering how popular the original was. There is a music video of the shorter version by Matt Sassari, but it's pretty meaningless, so I'm going for the Full Vocal Mix instead, which is really just more of the good stuff.

In the WLSC, things are pretty normal. Little V's metal cover of Cotton Eye Joe wasn't the only metal cover in WLSC 258, and ended in 15th (of 18). For WLSC 259 I've once again decided not to go deep searching on YouTube for the perfect remix, but instead I'm going with a pretty awesome trance mashup by Mr. Trancetive of Mountbatten Island's NSC 14 entry "Saltwater" by Chicane (altho based on the 2018 remake by Inversed), and Avicii's 2019 hit "SOS" with Aloe Blacc (released after Avicii's death - R.I.P.). There's a big chance this would have been my entry anyway, even if I did go deep into the YouTube hole. Also a multinational entry, with artists from England (Chicane), Northern Ireland (Inversed), Sweden (Avicii), USA (Aloe Blacc) and The Netherlands (Mr. Trancetive).

NSC 14 was hosted by Belvist, so it seems fitting to have this remake mashup also sent to a Belvist hosted edition of the WLSC.

 

[Morty]

White waiting for NSC 219 and WLSC 259 to start, I've updated the Balearica Island wiki page. Including the voting history, both for NSC and WLSC. And I figured I'd post the charts here as well:

NSC given:

NSC received:

WLSC given:

WLSC received:

 

[theditz83]

The symbiosis in WLSC, but you really gotta pick up that slack in NSC - get those public votes rolling in to improve on that 6th place

 

[Morty]

The symbiosis in WLSC, but you really gotta pick up that slack in NSC - get those public votes rolling in to improve on that 6th place

We don't tamper with votes on , you'll just have to wait in line like everyone else. It's only a matter of time tho, you have the highest average per final of the entire top 20. The real question is if you'll reach #1 before Tanoiro catches up with you.

The WLSC numbers are pretty crazy tbh, but you send awesome stuff there.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island ain't guna move (NSC 220)

So sending the Full Vocal Mix of "Give It To Me" was a complete failure. I even started regretting not sending the radio edit at one point, but then I saw I was potentially scoring my first ever semi 27th place, which would have made it all worth it. But unfortunately I won that tiebreaker, and finished 26th. Oh well, the chase for new positions continue.

So where will this next entry end up? As many others, it's from YouTube suggestions. The thumbnail got me curious, and then I spent the next hours going thru most of Venjent's uploads, and there's loads of great tracks there. I'm still going for the one that got me interested tho, "R U Guna Move" (despite the spelling giving me a headache). I'm amazed by how Venjent can just pick up random noise, and make it into a drum and bass banger. Love it!

I was wondering where the footage was coming from, and discovered that revving is actually a thing in Japanese motorcycle (and car) culture, and they have rev battles. Because of course they do.

No idea how this will end up, could go all ways, but either way, I won't regret sending it. Also, this is my first entry with a music video in portrait mode.

WLSC then. The mashup in 259 gave me my first top 10 result since the win in 248, so I'd say it was a great result. For WLSC 260, I've found something that kinda fits with the AI theme in Moisantia, as the music video looks like it's partly AI made. I'm not sure it is tho, but it looks great. So this is a new version of Safri Duo's classic "Played-A-Live", sent by Cydoni-Gibberia to NSC 44, which got a good result in the final. This one is made by twocolors and Chris de Sarandy (Safri Duo are credited too), and it's called "Cynical":

There are most likely remixes of Played-A-Live that I like more, as this is way more mainstream than the stuff I generally listen to the most, but I'm trying to be at least a little diverse in WLSC, and this adds to that. Whether or not that will impact the result remains to be seen, but I wouldn't have sent it if I didn't like it, so if this fails as well, I won't regret my choice.

Also, for the first time in a while, there's spinoff action again, the Barbenheimer spinoff, and if I can find some good entries for it, then I'll be in, but more on that in the next update, as I think it's going to be pretty challenging.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island desires focus (NSC 221 + 222)

Time for a big update.

And since I didn't do an update with the NSC 220 result, we'll start there. Venjent got a decent result, finishing in the top 20 in the semi. Maybe not a huge success, but I've had loads of worse results. Which leads us to NSC 221. Calvin Harris is on fire these days. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Ellie Goulding for "Miracle", a song in the style of early 2000's trance, which almost won WLSC, and it was an easy 12 pointer for me there, as it was already on my list of potential entries for NSC. And since it got a good result in the WLSC, I decided to send a different retrostyled track to the NSC (Here We Go Again), with the intention of saving Miracle until my next PQ opportunity, hoping to finally get a top 20 result with a PQ entry. But now he's done it again, this time with Sam Smith, and "Desire" is also giving me loads of nostalgia vibes. And if that wasn't enough, the video is 100% up my alley as well, unlike the other Sam Smith videos I've seen (which aren't that many tbh).

Had the confirmation deadline for NSC 220 been a day or two later, I would have switched my entry tbh, and sent Venjent to 222 instead. I love everything about this entry, and that was actually a problem, because I was initially supposed to skip NSC 221 (which is why I would have sent Venjent to 222, and not 221), due to a very late summer holiday trip (which is also the reason for the lack of update here), but I simply couldn't risk seeing this sent by someone else while I was M.I.A. (and it was apparently also sent by someone else, so I made the right choice). But, as it turns out, the schedule worked in my favor, and despite being away for over 2 weeks, I didn't miss out on any deadlines. What didn't work in my favor was the audience. I did not expect a bottom 3 semi result, I thought it would have a decent chance at qualifying. So to whoever it was that tried to send it after me, you dodged a bullet there if you're in this for the results. I'm not tho, and I'm delighted to have Desire in my history, despite the result. The reju result was pretty nice tho, despite very few voters for my track. 5 out of 6 who gave it points there had it in their top 3.

Next up, NSC 222. After I started listening to Venjent, more drum and bass started showing up in my YouTube suggestions, and one artist from Venjent's label Chilli Tribe Records really (and I mean REALLY) caught my eye, and I think it'll be obvious why. His artist name is... Morty. No, it's not me. His real name is apparently Harry Evans, and I have no idea how he came up with "Morty" as an artist name, but that's less important. While Venjent seems to have found his niche in making amazing drum and bass out of random noises (like Eboman, sent by EchseNam to WLSC 260), Morty seems to be a bit more classic in his producing. Less goofing around, just quality producing (and quite a bit of weed, judging by some of his tracks). His best tracks tho, are with a rapper/singer on the same label, called JAX, and one of these are going to NSC. It's called "Focus":

Normally, I would have waited a few editions with this, since I sent Venjent very recently, but since NSC 222 is hosted by EchseNam, who sent Eboman to WLSC, it feels right to send it right away.

In the WLSC, "Cynical" got a good result, scoring a 9th place, my second top 10 finish in a row. And that's only the second time I've managed to score consecutive top 10 finishes in WLSC, so that's actually pretty great. Then I had to skip WLSC 261 due to the previously mentioned summer holiday trip, but even tho my schedule has been pretty full lately, I'm taking part in 262, since I don't think it will clash with any NSC voting deadlines. Not sure I could handle two at the same time right now, but if I have to, then I'll have to find a way. My choice is Hibernia's NSC 17 entry "Come With Me" by Special D., and there are a few remixes of it, and they're mostly bangers. But the problem is that they don't really differ that much from the original. But I did find one that stands out a bit from the crowd, Kritikal Mass' bounce remix.

Expecting bottom 5 results for both my entries here tbh.

For the Barbenheimer spinoff, I first found one of Lord of The Lost's songs from the "Blood & Glitter" album called "Destruction Manual" (thanks again to YouTube suggestions), and then went thru my neverending list of potential NSC entries to find something good as far away from it as I could. And the choice fell on Ulrich Schnauss' song "Monday - Paracetamol". I have no idea where I found this song, but it might have been thru my ex. It's been on my list for a really long time, and now I finally found an opening for it.

Here are the two songs:
Lord of the Lost - Destruction Manual

Ulrich Schnauss - Monday - Paracetamol

Mixed results here. Lord of the Lost scored an awesome third place (which was also very close to a second place), while Ulrich Schnauss finished last, and in the nations results, finished 5th. Not too bad.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island is looking for this lost paradise (NSC 223)

Starting off with the recent results, and I expected bottom 5 results both in NSC 222 and WLSC 262. And it went just as expected, "Focus" finished 23rd in NSC, and the Kritikal Mass remix finished 16th (of 20) in WLSC.

But of course I'm not gonna let that drag me down. For NSC 223, I'm once again going with something that popped up on YouTube, and this time, the title was what caught my eye. French duo KAS:ST's techno anthem "2084". I think the title is a bit of a nod to George Orwell's 1984, just deeper into the future. But for me, 2084 will be exactly 100 years after my birth. KAS:ST has a few other videos with similar topics, with loads of violence, crime and drugs, and I can't say I can personally relate to any of it, but I know this is normal for a lot of people. Sad. But I think the song is great, even if the lyrics get a tiny bit repetitive.

Expectations? I'll be surprised if this reaches the semi top 20. But who knows, anything can happen.

In the WLSC, one more edition is already finished. In 263, I decided to go for a remix of Spila's NSC 42 entry, The Prodigy - Omen, and I was close to missing the confirmation deadline, as it was difficult to choose between several great remixes. Two hardstyle remixes by Bass Modulators and The Anarchist, a hardtrance remix by Cryptodome, and a "hell techno" remix by Hell Driver (links hidden in the text). But the one that I eventually decided on was a metal remix by Remstage, because I wanted to go a slightly different direction this time. And the result was pretty good, just missing out on a top 10 result.

For WLSC 264, it was once again back to the drawing board, and it's getting really hard to pick entries. First I need to decide on which former NSC entry I want to choose, then I need to deep dive into YouTube to see if there's any gold I'm unaware of, and then finally decide between all the gold I've found. It's a challenge. And I was really close to sitting out of 264 because of this, but I managed to find an entry before the deadline. When I joined WLSC, my first covers were of former NSC and ESC winners. And so is this one. Cydoni-Gibberia won NSC 81 with "Safe And Sound" by Capital Cities. I actually haven't found any remixes that really stand out of this one tho, but there are of course still many great remixes of it. And my pick is the 2014 remix by Markus Schulz and Grube & Hovsepian:

Considering 264 is hosted by an American, Capital Cities are American, and all the remixers are also American (altho Markus Schulz is actually German-American), this kinda feels like a perfect entry.